


Comfort Zone

by RisemboolRanger



Series: Comfort Zone series [1]
Category: Soul Eater
Genre: Action, Adventure, F/M, Fantasy, Friendship, Multi, Romance, School
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-01
Updated: 2014-04-06
Packaged: 2017-11-20 00:08:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 39,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/579121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RisemboolRanger/pseuds/RisemboolRanger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stein's bringing in a new fighting project for the class and causing an uproar by separating all meisters from their weapons. Who can adapt to being out of their comfort zone and who's going to flunk?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The New Student

“I must say, Brina, I’ve never had to treat one student so much in my days here. And it’s rarely ever results from fighting either!”

Brina Hathaway was sat in the infirmary, feeling sheepish, as she was playfully chastised by the amused school nurse. “Trust me, even I find it ridiculous,” she agreed.

“Your reputation as a meister precedes you amongst the professors… Even with Lord Death himself,” the nurse continued. “From what I’ve heard when you fight you have perfect balance and focus. But in your everyday life it seems…”

“She’s a total klutz,” Adrian Carrow interrupted helpfully. Adrian was one half of a set of identical twins and also one of Brina’s weapons.

“Shut up,” grumbled Brina. Adrian picked on her on a regular basis. Though he did have a point. Brina was a good meister but when she wasn’t fighting she tended to be very clumsy and accident-prone. 

“Do you think Brina should stay in the infirmary overnight just to be sure?” Jesse Carrow – the nicer of the twins and Brina’s other weapon – asked the nurse.

“Of course I don’t!” Brina protested. “It was just a bump – she doesn’t even think I have concussion!” Brina wasn’t a big fan of hospitals or infirmaries. Maybe due to the fact that she was sent to them so often…

The nurse chuckled at Brina’s reaction. “No, she should be fine. Just don’t go walking into anything else, okay?”

“Thanks,” muttered Brina, flushing a slight pink. It was bad enough that she’d strode headlong into an open window in front of a group of her classmates. She didn’t need to be reminded of her own stupidity.

She left the infirmary, followed by the twins, still feeling irked. She hated how clumsy she was – plus it didn’t help that trouble just seemed to follow her everywhere. When she focused, mostly when she was fighting, it wasn’t a problem. But for the most part she was quite dreamy and seemed to lose her idea of balance. Accidents were a common occurrence for her. The school nurse didn’t even know the half of it. She didn’t bother with the infirmary for most of the everyday injuries she always seemed to be getting.

It was nearly time for the lunch period at the academy. Brina had missed the majority of the last class since she’d hit her head on the window just before it had started. There were only another ten minutes left so there was no point for her to go and join in now. She’d apologise to Professor Stein later.

“So are we gonna go find somewhere outside to eat?” asked Adrian as they slowly made their way down the corridor.

“Well…” Brina hesitated. She actually wanted to eat with some of her other friends here at the academy and find out what she’d missed, but she knew the twins would never go for that.

“You wanna hang out with Maka and her friends, don’t you?” said Jesse, understanding her hesitation. He didn’t even need to wait for her response. “That’s cool, we’ll just meet you in class this afternoon.”

Brina gave him a grateful smile. “Are you sure?” He nodded, smiling back. She looked up at his twin. “Adrian?”

Adrian just shrugged. “Yeah, whatever. See you later.”

He sloped off with Jesse following after him. Brina bit her lip. She’d probably pay for that later. The twins didn’t like people much – they found it extremely difficult to trust anyone. Brina still thought she was lucky that they trusted her as much as they did. They wouldn’t hang around with anybody else though, which always left Brina in an awkward position. She liked being around other friends too – she liked having a wider social circle. Plus it was always a nice change to hang around with some female friends.

Jesse was normally okay with her wanting to do her own thing at times. He treated her like a kid sister and seemed happy with the fact that she was fairly popular at the academy. Unlike Adrian, who could be selfish and didn’t want Brina to have any other friends apart from Jesse and himself. Her relationship with Adrian had always been far more complicated than it was with Jesse.

At least she wouldn’t have to deal with it for now. She turned onto a different corridor than the one the twins had disappeared down and slowly traipsed along to the classroom she would have been in. They’d all be coming out for lunch in a few minutes.

Sure enough, when she was reaching the classroom students were starting to file out. Some smiled at her and a few made passing comments about her accident with the window. She blushed but laughed it all off.

Eventually Brina found who she was looking for. Maka, fellow meister with dirty blonde pigtails, and Tsubaki, a taller Japanese girl with the ability to transform into a variety of different weapons.

“Hey guys!” Brina greeted them brightly as she joined them. “Did I miss anything good?”

“No, Professor Stein wanted us to dissect an endangered species!” said Maka, looking outraged. She launched into a rant about it as they followed everyone else towards the lunch hall. Neither her nor Tsubaki mentioned Brina’s visit to the infirmary.

“So where are Soul and Black Star?” Brina asked as they all grabbed some food. They’d been absent when she’d left the class but she’d just assumed they were late.

“Oh they’re around somewhere. I think Black Star wants to pick a fight with the new kid when he arrives,” explained Tsubaki. She didn’t sound particularly thrilled with the idea.

“Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that!” exclaimed Brina. They had a new student enrolling at the school today – none other than Lord Death’s son! “Didn’t you wanna go with him?”

“Well I wasn’t really…” Tsubaki started slowly but Maka cut her off.

“Urgh. Why would Tsubaki want to join in with the boys’ stupid fight?” she groaned. “It’ll only be a contest of who’s got the biggest ego.”

Brina laughed. “So you’re not even the slightest bit interested how Soul’s gonna do?”

“I’ll go check it out in a while. After I get some food of course,” Maka grinned. “What do you think, Tsubaki?”

“I’d like to watch them,” Tsubaki confessed.

“Then let’s eat up!” urged Brina. “For all we know the fight could already be over by now.”

Brina didn’t have the same personal interest as the others did – watching their partners fight – but she was definitely intrigued to see someone go up against a grim reaper. They all ate hurriedly, now that they’d decided they didn’t want to miss the fight, and then raced down towards the front of the school where Soul and Black Star had said they were going to wait.

They knew straightaway that they’d found them. A group of students were watching through the front windows. They carried on past them and outside. Professor Stein was already out there, also interested in watching the fight.

Soul and Black Star were trying as hard as they could to land blows on a skinny boy dressed in black and carrying twin pistols. He had black hair with three white streaks on one side. He was obviously Lord Death’s son.

“So that’s him?” Maka asked Professor Stein as they sidled up next to him.

“Yep. That’s Death the Kid. I think your partners should have chosen a different opponent,” Professor Stein commented. He then noticed Brina was there behind Maka and Tsubaki. “Brina, you weren’t in my class earlier. What did you do this time?”

Brina just grinned sheepishly. “I had a misunderstanding with the window.” She liked Professor Stein – his comments didn’t embarrass her like everybody else’s did. Plus he was pretty clumsy too. He rode around class on a wheeley chair and was often crashing into walls or falling off it.

“I shouldn’t have asked,” said Professor Stein, sounding amused.

“So how have they been doing?” asked Tsubaki, watching her partner in action. Neither he nor Soul had succeeded in landing a hit on Kid yet.

“You mean Soul and Black Star? Like I said they should have chosen a different opponent,” Professor Stein remarked lightly. “They’ve not managed to do any damage so far and if he uses his soul resonance they’re in big trouble.”

Kid leapt back from the uncoordinated duo’s next attack, landing in a perfect crouching position. He made every movement look as easy as breathing. “Let’s go, soul resonance!” he cried, both him and his weapons surrounded in a blue glow.

“Too late…” sighed Professor Stein.

Kid’s pistols merged with his hands as everybody watched, his arms transforming into twin cannons. “Execution mode ready,” he said almost calmly. “Death cannon!”

There was a blinding white light, followed by an explosion. Brina shielded her eyes automatically. When she moved her hand Soul and Black Star were lying on the ground, both clearly out of the fight. Kid looked completely unharmed.

“Black Star!” gasped Tsubaki, running down to check on her partner.

Maka sighed. “Looks like that was over pretty quick.” She and Brina followed after Tsubaki. 

As soon as they’d joined them – without warning – Kid suddenly collapsed onto the floor, coughing up blood. Everybody stared at him in astonishment. Even Soul and Black Star both sat up, giving him confused looks.

“What the hell’s wrong with him?” asked Brina, bewildered.

The two cannons melted away from Kid’s arms and transformed into two girls, one with short blonde hair and the other with longer, darker hair. They were obviously sisters.

“He’s completely insane; that’s what’s wrong with him,” groaned the taller sister. Her younger sister simply laughed, pointing at Kid lying on the ground.

“What happened?” asked Soul in confusion.

“I think you managed to cut just a tiny bit of hair off the one side,” explained the taller sister, inspecting Kid’s now slightly asymmetrical hair. “He gets weird over stuff like that.”

“So that means we win, right? He’s the one bleeding now, not us,” Soul pointed out.

Black Star agreed whole-heartedly with Soul on that and they celebrated their default victory whilst the two weapon sisters concentrated on hoisting Kid off the ground. Neither of them appeared to be worried about their meister’s condition.

“Erm… Do you need any help?” Brina offered hesitantly. The smaller sister was still giggling and the older one didn’t seem particularly impressed with the turn of events.

“Nah, it’s okay. Trust me, this isn’t the first time something like this has happened.” The older sister gave her a rueful smile. “I’m Liz by the way.”

“And I’m Patty!” the other sister chimed in happily. 

“I’m Brina. Nice to meet you,” Brina smiled back.

Maka and Tsubaki dutifully introduced themselves and their partners too. Soul and Black Star were still too busy basking in the glory of their rather hollow win.

“I’m gonna bounce anyways,” Brina told the group. “I wanna try and catch up with the twins before the next class.” She was excited to tell them she’d already seen Lord Death’s son in action – not to mention the totally bizarre ending to the fight.

Maka made a face at that. The twins weren’t well liked at the academy. “Okay, we’ll see you in class!”

“We’re supposed to be starting classes tomorrow so we’ll probably see you around then,” added Liz.

“Great!” beamed Brina. “See ya!”

She took off round the front of the school, very nearly crashing into another student. “Oops! Sorry Danny!” she called back over her shoulder. She heard laughter from behind her and a rather stunned “that’s okay” in response.

She found the twins in their usual place, sheltered under one of the giant trees round the side of the school. She flopped down onto the ground beside them. “I thought you’d be here.”

“Had enough of your other friends already?” asked Adrian, leaning back against the tree.

“I just wanted to find you guys before we had to go to class,” said Brina with a shrug. The twins usually sat with her and the others in class but they rarely spoke up in front of Maka’s group. “We saw Lord Death’s son!”

“Oh yeah?” Even Adrian couldn’t help being intrigued. “What’s he like?”

“Strong, I guess,” replied Brina. “He took out Soul and Black Star pretty easily.”

Adrian laughed. “Those guys needed taking down a notch or two.”

Brina rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Ade.” She knew that no matter how much she stuck up for whoever Adrian was badmouthing it only seemed to make it worse. She’d learnt to just ignore him instead.

“So did you talk to him?” asked Jesse, more interested in Death the Kid than in Soul and Black Star’s defeat.

“No, I spoke to his weapon partners though,” said Brina. She wasn’t really sure how to explain what had happened after the fight. “They seemed pretty cool.”

“Partners?” repeated Jesse, emphasising the ‘S’. “So he has two weapons too?”

Brina nodded. “Yeah, they’re twin pistols.”

Adrian scoffed. “I reckon we could take him.”

Before Kid had enrolled, Brina and another meister called Kilik had been the only ones who used more than one weapon partner. Kilik’s weapons were a brother and sister who could transform into elemental-based gauntlets. 

“You guys are on your own then,” said Brina. “I don’t fancy going up against him.” Brina had a fair amount of confidence in the twins and in her skills as a meister, but she definitely didn’t feel like taking on a grim reaper yet.

“Chicken,” Adrian taunted.

“No-brain,” Brina retorted automatically.

The bell rang before they could get anywhere near a real argument. Jesse sighed with relief. Brina was usually quite mature for her age but when Adrian was winding her up she could be just as childish as he was.

**XXX**

The next morning Brina hummed to her reflection in the mirror as she fixed her hair. Her hair was always a bit of a disaster. She’d grown up with her grandmother, who had always cut her hair for her. Her grandmother had passed away not long after she’d enrolled at the academy and she didn’t know anyone else from her family. When her hair grew too long to ignore – she’d always had a fairly short hairstyle – she’d decided to cut it herself. Cue the disaster.

No matter how much she’d tried she hadn’t been able to cut the sides even. Unfortunately it didn’t look intentional like some of the modern asymmetrical styles; it just looked like a botched cut – which, of course, it was. So Brina had pulled a handful of hair on the longer side into a high bunch and acted like the difference was intentional. She’d been too embarrassed to ask someone else to cut it for her and she definitely didn’t want a professional to see the mess she’d made, so she’d kept the style since then.

If she had the courage to get her hair done professionally she’d definitely like to get it dyed too, Brina thought to herself. Her hair was a mousy brown that only really looked nice in the sun – boring, in her opinion. She’d get contacts too. Her eyes were grey and also boring. And she’d like to find a way to make herself taller. Maybe then the twins wouldn’t pick on her so much…

She carried on dreaming about her ideal appearance while she finished getting ready for class. She was quite a dreamy person and she was always fantasising about something. Maybe that was part of why she was so clumsy. 

Once she was finished Brina locked up her place and made her way towards the school. When she got to class she saw that everybody else was already there. She sidled up next to the twins, who had left a distinct gap between themselves and Tsubaki. Brina happily took up the vacant space. Class was obviously about to start because the level of chatter was minimal, so Brina just gave the others along the row a small wave in greeting.

She noticed that Liz and Patty were sat with Death the Kid on the row behind, just a little further along. Brina smiled at the sisters and they both grinned back. She felt like she should maybe say hi to Kid, seeing as she hadn’t introduced herself to him yet, but he wasn’t even looking.

There was suddenly a loud crash and nearly every student in the classroom jumped, everybody’s attention moving to the front of the room. Professor Stein had crashed his chair again – he was lying on his back, holding an open book and looking quite unperturbed by that fact that he was on the floor. The wheels of the chair were still spinning erratically.

“Okay then, now that I have your attention…” he began, acting like the fall had been intentional. “I’d like you all to get out the dissecting equipment I gave you…”

The lesson turned out to be yet another disastrous one. Professor Stein was making a second attempt on what appeared to be the same endangered cuckoo he’d wanted to dissect the day before. Several classmates flew into an argument about it and the lesson was completely disrupted.

Brina sighed. This must have been what had happened in the lesson she’d missed yesterday. Maka was right – she definitely hadn’t missed out on anything. Beside her, the twins were muttering amongst themselves, not at all interested in the debate going on. On Brina’s other side Tsubaki, Black Star and Soul were all following the argument. Of course, Maka was one of the ones involved. Brina admired her for that. She did her best to avoid getting into arguments at all costs – she hated confrontation.

She turned back to see if Liz and Patty were watching the dispute too. This time she realised that Kid was looking straight at her, so she smiled in response. He didn’t smile back. Instead he gave her what was unmistakeably a dirty look before returning his gaze to the book in front of him.

Brina blushed and quickly looked away, down at her own book. What was that about? She hadn’t done anything! Confused, annoyed and a little hurt, she didn’t look back for the rest of the lesson.


	2. Stein's Class Project

Brina purposely avoided Kid that morning. She still didn’t understand what she could have possibly done to annoy him and it was weighing down on her mind. She knew she was probably making too big a deal out of this but she’d always been quite a friendly person – she’d never given anyone a reason to actively dislike her. So there was no need for Kid to have given her such a disgusted look when all she’d done was smile at him.

The thought bugged her through all of the morning classes. She frowned at the paper in front of her, tapping her pen impatiently, still caught up in her own thoughts. Adrian was practically reclining in the chair next to her. He put his feet up on the desk. Annoyed, Brina shuffled her things out of the way. Normally she wouldn’t have been as aggravated by something as simple as that, but her confused thoughts over Kid had put her in a tetchy mood.

She stared at Adrian’s shoes on the desk. Maybe she’d been mistaken… Maybe Kid had been giving the twins a dirty look, not her. That wouldn’t have been unusual. There were always plenty of stories flying round about the Carrows. Nobody else at the DWMA liked them – they were antisocial and they enjoyed playing tricks on people.

Yes, that must be it. She must have imagined that the antagonism was aimed at her. It would have been an easy mistake to make considering the twins always sat directly beside her. Brina still didn’t feel brave enough to chance another look at Kid in class but she felt happier now. Maybe she’d even introduce herself after this lesson was over and they’d broke up for the lunch period.

The lesson dragged and Brina felt like putting her head down on the desk and going to sleep. Professor Layten wasn’t half as interesting a teacher as Professor Stein was. The bell finally rang and the class were allowed out. The twins were ready to charge on outside but Brina hung back by the classroom door as everyone was still filing out.

“What’s up? You wanna eat with Maka and them again?” asked Jesse.

“Aww, come on Bree. Hang out with us this time,” Adrian complained.

“It’s not that. I just…” Brina’s sentence was finished for her as Kid came through the door. She turned to him with a wary smile and held her hand out. “Oh hi, I’m Brina. I didn’t get chance to introduce myself before.” The twins gave each other an amused look at Brina’s need to try and befriend everyone.

Kid didn’t take her hand. He didn’t even look her in the eyes. “Please don’t… You disgust me.”

Brina felt like he’d just punched her in the stomach. She stared at him, feeling tears threaten her eyes. He thought she was disgusting? But she’d only been trying to be nice; she couldn’t think of a single thing that she could have done to offend him.

Adrian didn’t wait to find out what his problem was. He grabbed Kid by the hair and slammed him against the wall. “Apologise to her!” he snarled in Kid’s face, forcing him to look him in the eye.

It must have been painful but Kid didn’t even flinch. He met Adrian’s gaze steadily. “Let go of me,” he said dangerously.

“Adrian, don’t…” said Brina worriedly. “Just let him go.”

Fights were permitted at the academy as long as a teacher was there to witness it. But if Adrian was caught assaulting Lord Death’s son without a teacher present as a referee he’d be in big trouble.

“Not until he apologises!” protested Adrian. He was a lot taller than Kid and in regular hand-to-hand combat he’d likely have the advantage.

Half of the class were now crowded round the doorway. How much had they heard? Brina flushed. Jesse was hovering behind her, unsure whether to pull Adrian off Kid or not. Professor Layten was sure to notice the disturbance and when she did she’d be out any second.

“I don’t care!” said Brina, though it was obvious she was lying. “Just leave it or you’ll get into trouble!”

Adrian took one look at her face and saw quite clearly that all she wanted to do was get away from everyone. “Fine,” he growled. He gave Kid one more shake and released him. “You’d better stay away from her.”

“Gladly,” replied Kid, calmly brushing himself down.

Adrian looked ready to punch him but this time Jesse grabbed his arm. “C’mon Ade,” he muttered, steering him away. He caught hold of Brina’s hand and pulled her along with them.

“Brina, wait!”

Brina looked back. It was Liz and Patty. They’d obviously seen everything. “Ignore Kid, don’t take it personally,” said Liz, looking awkward. “He’s just a bit…”

“It’s fine, I really don’t care,” Brina interrupted quickly. She just wanted to escape outside with the twins. “Just forget about it. I’ll see you later.” She practically babbled the last few words, quickly turning tail and following the twins outside.

“Are you okay?” Jesse asked her once they were sat in their usual spot under one of the trees.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” said Brina quietly, staring at the ground. No one had ever been that malicious to her before… And she still didn’t even know what she’d done wrong.

“You should have let me punch him,” Adrian grumbled.

“That wouldn’t have solved anything,” said Brina.

“It would have made you feel better,” Adrian insisted.

Brina couldn’t even manage a smile at that. “Can we just not talk about it?” She was sure that if they kept it up much longer she’d end up in tears. She didn’t want to think about it.

“Sure,” said Jesse softly.

Adrian sighed and patted her on the head. “Whatever you want, Bree-Bree.”

**XXX**

It became clear over the lunch hour that everyone in the class had either seen or heard about what had happened. Small groups of students – including Maka, Soul, Tsubaki and Black Star – came to seek Brina out to see if she was okay. Adrian ignored them all as usual and Jesse was forced to wave them all away, telling them that Brina just wanted to forget about it.

Liz and Patty turned up at one point, trying again to make excuses for Kid. Brina just gave them a fake smile, insisting that she was fine and would see them in class later that afternoon.

“At least they all care about you,” Jesse pointed out in an attempt to cheer her up.

Brina didn’t really care at that point. She was far too nervous at the thought of having to go back to class after lunch was over. The idea was starting to make her feel ill. She considered skipping class and feigning having to go to the nurse. It wasn’t like that would be unusual for her. Adrian was all for it.

“Yeah, go for it! We’ll skip with you,” he said.

“If you do that everyone’s gonna know you’re avoiding going to class,” Jesse pointed out. “I know you end up having to go to the infirmary quite a bit but people will know that’s not the case this time.”

Brina sulked, trying to decide what to do. She didn’t want Kid to know that he’d bothered her so much that she was scared of going to class, so she eventually agreed to go. When they did get back to the classroom she took her seat without looking at anybody. She could feel people watching her though and her cheeks burned.

At least they had Professor Stein teaching for the rest of the afternoon. His classes generally tended to be more interesting than anyone else’s – well, when they weren’t just experimenting on things.

But even Professor Stein failed to cheer her up. His lessons simply focused on dissecting again, causing more arguments amongst the class like it normally did. Brina sighed and put her head on the desk. All she wanted now was to go home. She _knew_ she should have skipped class. At least it was Friday and she’d have a whole weekend of no classes.

However, Professor Stein sprang an unusual surprise on them towards the end of the lesson. 

“Now then, class… I have an announcement to make before you all finish up for the weekend,” he revealed. “We’re going to be starting on a new project. It should last for a couple of months and it’ll help you to learn new fighting techniques.”

There was an excited murmur amongst the class. It wasn’t often that they were given long-term projects and this was already sounding far more interesting than any they’d done in the past.

“It’ll be a completely new experience for all of you,” Professor Stein continued. “For starters, none of you will be working with your usual partners. All meisters will be separated from their weapons…”

He didn’t get any further because there was a sudden uproar – even worse than anything his dissecting practices had caused in previous lessons.

“Split us up from our meisters? Are you crazy?” protested a dark-haired boy named Koroso, who had the ability to change into a scythe like Soul did.

“Of course he’s crazy! This has to be a joke!” shouted Ox – one of the top students in the class.

“We’ve learnt to match our soul wavelengths with our weapons – what was the point of that if you’re going to give us new partners?” asked Kim, a meister student and the object of Ox’s affections.

Professor Stein waited patiently, twisting the screw in the side of his head until the shouting subsided. “You _will_ be assigned new partners but you will not be working in the same way that you’re used to,” he explained. “Weapons will be working with other weapons and all meisters will be paired up too.”

“But why?” asked Maka, unable to keep the question to herself.

“Because you need to be prepared for situations where you are unable to use your weapon,” Professor Stein replied. “Meisters need to learn alternate fighting techniques that they can use if, for some reason, their weapon has been separated from them or is unable to transform. Likewise, we will be teaching weapons to fight using each other so that they don’t always have to rely on their meisters to be of use.”

The class was completely silent. Pleased with their attention, Professor Stein continued with his explanation.

“Starting next week you will be given a number of exercises in your usual teams. I’ll use what I learn from these exercises to decide on your new partners for this project. These teams will be decided on compatibility and similarities in skill, _not_ based on existing friendship groups.”

Some of the students were giving each other uneasy glances. That meant that they could end up with someone they didn’t like. The twins looked particularly worried. They’d already had some rough experience in using each other to fight, but that wouldn’t be any use if they were split up and partnered with other weapons.

Professor Stein didn’t seem bothered by the awkward silence following his words. In face, he seemed positively cheery. “Once the new teams are started we’ll begin training. Both myself and Sid will be teaching the meister teams for this project. The weapons will be taught by Naigus and Death Scythe.”

Brina shot a glance at Maka and Soul. Spirit Albarn, more commonly known as Death Scythe, was Maka’s father and it was common knowledge how much she detested that fact. Maka seemed relieved that he wasn’t going to be in charge of the meisters. Soul looked appalled by the idea. He wasn’t on the best of terms with him and often referred to him as ‘Maka’s creepy dad’.

With that the bell rang, signalling both the end of the lesson and the end of the day. Professor Stein looked pleased with himself. “I’ll see you all on Monday. Make sure you’re fighting fit – we’ll need to see the utmost best of your abilities to decide on the most suitable teams for you.”

The students filed out of the classroom a lot more noisily than usual. Everyone was debating and worrying over what Professor Stein had just told them. Kid looked particularly angry about the new project. Brina made sure she kept well out of his way as he passed. 

Adrian now looked confident rather than worried. “What are _we_ worrying for, Jess? We’ll be fine! Not only are we related; we’re twins! Nobody could be more compatible with us than we already are to each other!”

“I dunno though…” mused Jesse, not sharing Adrian’s confidence. “Professor Stein always has something up his sleeve that you can’t count on.”

Brina let the twins theorise amongst themselves. She was more worried about another issue… The twins were part of her balance. The only reason she was such a good meister and could forget her clumsiness when she was fighting was because she was completely on the same wavelength as the twins. It had taken a _lot_ of practice. But fighting alongside another meister? She was sure to be useless.

Maybe if she was really lucky she’d get paired with Maka. Or even Black Star… Her ungainliness was embarrassing either way, but it didn’t bother her quite as much around people she was more comfortable with. Plus she knew that Black Star wouldn’t dwell on it – he wouldn’t want the spotlight to be taken away from him. 

Either way she needed someone who wasn’t going to mind too much that she was likely to be a danger to them both. Someone who wasn’t going to laugh at her and put her on edge. Now why did she have a feeling that somebody like that was going to be hard to find?


	3. The Decisions Are Made

Brina kept to herself for the whole weekend. She didn’t leave her place and she didn’t even see the twins at all. Instead she spent the whole two days worrying over Professor Stein’s new project.

Though when she got to the classroom on Monday morning it was clear that she wasn’t the only one. Professor Stein wasn’t here yet so the students were chatting freely amongst themselves. The class project was the main topic of conversation for everyone – and nobody seemed particularly happy about it. The thought of who their new partner might end up being was weighing on everybody’s minds.

The one good thing about the project was that it had completely distracted Brina from what Kid had said to her on the Friday morning. She hadn’t thought about it all weekend, she realised as she saw him enter the classroom flanked by Liz and Patty. She gave the sisters a smile, both of whom smiled back, but purposely avoided looking directly at Kid.

The group were soon followed by Professor Stein, who came zooming into the room on his chair and nearly crashed into the desk. He managed to save himself in time and swivelled round to face the class. “Good morning, everyone. I hope you’re all ready. This is where I’m going to start testing you.”

“As long as we’re not being tested on a surgical table,” Adrian muttered. Brina giggled, despite the dig at her favourite teacher.

“So let’s start with the first exercise…” said Professor Stein. “Kera and Kaneda, you’re up!”

A girl with wavy black hair gave a confused glance to the tall guy wearing a beanie hat who was sat beside her, before they both rose from their seats uncertainly. Professor Stein waved them forward, so they carried on down to join him at the front of the class.

“Don’t look so worried. I’m not giving you anything that’s beyond your capability just yet,” reassured Professor Stein. “Kaneda, I’d like you to switch to weapon form. Then Kera? You come at me with all you’ve got.”

“How is that gonna help you test us?” Soul interrupted from one side of the classroom. “You’ve seen us all fight before now.”

“Well maybe you’re speaking for yourself but I’d like to think that most people in this class have improved since the last time I saw them fight,” said Professor Stein simply. 

Soul looked abashed and said no more. Maka shot him an annoyed look for showing them both up. Professor Stein returned his attention to the team in front of him. Kaneda obediently transformed into a red and blue bladed lance, which Kera took with two firm hands and held defensively in front of her.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” Professor Stein prompted, who was still sat back to front on his chair. “Try and hit me.”

Kera didn’t need telling twice. This wasn’t the first time they’d done exercises like this in class. Everybody always wanted to do better when they had an audience. She charged forward, aiming the lance directly at Professor Stein. He scooted backwards on his chair, avoiding the attack.

Kera tried again, jabbing and parrying with all her skill, practically running the professor round the classroom in circles. It would have looked almost comical if everybody else hadn’t been nervous about the fact that they’d have to do the same afterwards. Professor Stein dodged every hit neatly. After all, he was the academy’s number one meister for a reason. 

When Kera made her next attempt Professor Stein held up his hand and calmly said, “Stop.” 

Kera slid to a halt. Brina had to admire her precision. Professor Stein hadn’t even attempted to dodge this time. If Kera hadn’t stopped exactly when he’d said he would have been speared – the bladed lance was mere inches from his face. Even Kera looked slightly uneasy at how close it had been.

Professor Stein simply smiled at her though. “Well done Kera, Kaneda… You may return to your seats.” Still a little dazed by what they’d just done, Kera and Kaneda made their way back to their seats, Kaneda changing back into his human form as they went. “I think next up we’ll have Circa and Bolin.”

Brina felt a twang of guilt as the next pair stood up. She’d been worried about who she was going to be paired with for this project, but it would undoubtedly be a lot more difficult for these two in particular. Bolin was completely blind and had to put of all of his faith in his meister. 

She remembered when Bolin had first enrolled at the academy, before Circa had – it had actually been around the same time as Brina herself. Bolin had been told by everyone that nobody would want a blind weapon for a partner. Brina had almost considered proposing him herself at one point, before she’d met the twins, until she realised that _she’d_ be even more likely to run headlong into things that he would. But luckily Circa then joined the DWMA and didn’t seem at all bothered by his impediment.

So how was Bolin going to cope having to work with another weapon who didn’t know how to accommodate for his disability? Though surely Professor Stein would consider this and choose a suitable partner for him…

If Brina hadn’t known about Bolin then she never would have guessed that he couldn’t see. He followed Circa down to the front of the class without any guidance, following the sound of her footsteps, before transforming into a battle axe.

They fought amazingly as a team – their soul wavelengths needing to be matched even more precisely than most to assist Bolin in his perception of what was going on. They showed that now, fighting against Professor Stein in the same manner that Kera and Kaneda had.

Again, Professor Stein was proving impossible to hit. Circa’s offensive style was different to Kera’s but she still couldn’t land a blow on him. Though, equally, Circa and Bolin’s perfect wavelengths couldn’t be completely ignored. At one point Professor Stein had to leap out of his chair to evade their next strike.

“And stop,” ordered Professor Stein, holding his hand up again. “That was excellent. Next can I have Kim and Jacqueline?”

And so it went on. Each team went up one by one to demonstrate their fighting techniques against Professor Stein. So far nobody had been able to touch him. The only ones who had come close were Circa, Maka and Black Star. Brina glanced around the classroom. There weren’t many people left who hadn’t tried yet. There was still Kid, Ox, Danny…

“Ah… Brina, Adrian and Jesse. Let’s have you next.”

Brina started and nervously got to her feet, with the twins following suit. She concentrated extra hard on walking down the stairs. She stumbled up and down these frequently but it would be a lot more embarrassing if she did it now with everyone watching.

She could feel people’s eyes on her when she got down to the front. She hated doing demonstrations in front of the whole class. But when the twins transformed into their butterfly sword forms and she caught them neatly in each hand she suddenly felt a lot better. She was good at this sort of thing. Having her weapons in hand already made her feel a lot less clumsy.

“Are you ready?” asked Professor Stein, who was back in his chair again, watching her expectantly.

Brina nodded. “Ready.” 

She lunged at him before he could give any further instruction. Like he’d done multiple times already Professor Stein pushed back in his chair, dodging her attack. Brina followed his course, swiping at him alternatively between the two swords. Right, left, right, left. The pattern she’d perfected to the highest speed she could manage. When she was like this she didn’t have to watch her feet like she did in everyday life. She was perfectly co-ordinated.

Professor Stein leapt from his chair to avoid her next swing. He then dove forward with his hand outstretched, ready to use the force of his soul wavelength. Uh oh. He’d only tried to use that move on Black Star so far. 

Brina skipped back and brought both swords up in front of her in a firm ‘X’ shape, blocking Professor Stein’s hit. She then swept them both outwards in one quick movement, knocking him off balance. For a split second she had a clear shot. If she could just move quick enough…

“And stop,” ordered Professor Stein. Oh well. It looked like she’d never know. “That was very impressive. The three of you can go back to your seats. Now let’s have Ox and Harvar…”

The twins switched back to human form and followed Brina up to their seats again. Brina was happy that their part was over and pleased that they seemed to have done quite well. The twins didn’t show whether they were happy about it or not. They sat back to watch the last few teams take part.

**XXX**

As the week went on Brina found she was grateful that they didn’t normally do so many physical exercises in class. Each morning she got up with pains in muscles that she didn’t even realise she had.

Monday was pretty much taken up by the one-on-one demonstrations with Professor Stein. Tuesday was fairly similar except they were practicing more defensive moves, this time against Sid. Wednesday was endurance races outside on the morning and a horrific assault course that had been set up around the academy on the afternoon.

Thursday was the most relaxing. Professor Stein had told them all to get into pairs so that they could practice trust exercises – since trust was key both in working together and in matching soul wavelengths.

Most of the students stayed with their usual meister or weapon partners. Adrian and Jesse paired up which initially left Brina at a loss. Thankfully a tall girl with reddish-brown hair tied into a long braid – by the name of Yvonna – offered to team up with her. Her weapon Clyde had partnered with Kid, whom he seemed to get along with already.

The trust exercises were actually pretty fun. They were simple tasks like having to close your eyes, fall backwards and count on your partner to catch you. Brina was lucky she had such a good-natured partner. Yvonna was a good sport even when Brina accidentally dropped her on the floor – her usual clumsiness setting in as it normally did.

And before they knew it… it was Friday. The day Professor Stein would be announcing his decisions.

He’d told them during their last lesson on Thursday that there would be no classes on Friday. He’d spend Friday morning making his final decisions and then he’d announce them during final period – the only session they’d need to attend that day.

So on Friday afternoon the classroom was unusually quiet. Everybody was nervous and anxious to hear who their new partners would be.

“Don’t worry,” Brina heard Koroso whispering to his meister Ao – a pretty blonde girl – further along the row. “You’ll probably get put with another scythe meister. I bet you. You’ll be with either Maka, Caspar or Marista. That’s not so bad…”

There were other speculations and whispers of comfort floating around the room whilst they waited for Professor Stein to turn up. Still, none of the students looked any less worried.

Professor Stein soon burst into the classroom – once again using his wheeley chair rather than walking like any normal person would. He did a full three hundred and sixty degree rotation before spinning back round to face his class.

“Good afternoon, class. I’m sure you’ve all been looking forward to today. No doubt you’re excited to find out who your new partners will be,” he said brightly.

A few students glanced at each other. Excited wasn’t quite the right word.

“Well there’s no sense in beating around the bush so let’s get started,” announced Professor Stein. “We’ll start with the weapons first.”

He pulled a notebook out of his lab coat and flipped the first few pages over. Both sides of the pages had been written on. A lot of the writing had been crossed out multiple times. It didn’t look very professional.

“Elizabeth and Patricia Thompson, you two will be staying together,” said Professor Stein. “You’ve already had experience in using each other to fight so Death Scythe and Naigus will be expanding on that. The same also goes for Adrian and Jesse Carrow.”

Adrian breathed a sigh of relief and slapped Jesse a high five. Jesse returned the gesture, grinning. Brina smiled at the pair of them – at least _they_ wouldn’t have any complaints. Liz and Patty both looked pleased too.

“Harvar D. Éclair and Kaneda Sugara – you two are a team,” said Professor Stein.

The choice made sense. Harvar’s weapon form was a lightning spear. It was probably the closest match Professor Stein could have made for a bladed lance.

“Next are Soul Eater and Phantom Canus. We also have Ciarin Hiux and Koroso Wara,” Professor Stein listed.

He’d paired all of the scythes together, similar to how Koroso had guessed he might do with the meisters. Phantom grinned at Soul, who he was already friends with. Soul gave him the thumbs up in response. Ciarin and Koroso gave each other polite nods from across the classroom.

“Matthew Madison, you’ll be with both Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder. As some of you may have realised we have an odd number of weapons in this class so we had to have a group of three somewhere,” Professor Stein explained.

Happy-go-lucky Matt seemed to think that this was a bonus and beamed at the child-like siblings that were sat next to their meister Kilik. They responded with cheery waves.

“Next we have Clydicus Gray and Jacqueline O’Lantern Dupré,” Professor Stein read from his scrappy notebook.

A few teasing mutters rose around the classroom and Clyde grinned, a light flush to his cheeks. It was common knowledge to quite a majority of the class that he had a huge crush on Jackie. Jackie herself was quite oblivious to it though – as was her meister Kim. Did that mean that Professor Stein had noticed it too or was it just a happy coincidence?

“Tsubaki Nakatsukasa and Bolin Zheng – you’re also a team.”

Brina smiled. Professor Stein had definitely taken Bolin’s disadvantage into consideration – having partnered with Black Star; Tsubaki was undoubtedly the most patient person in the class! They both seemed pleased with the choice and so did Circa, who’d obviously been worried for him.

“And last but not least, we have Destiny Grace and Lily Brook,” announced Professor Stein.

Dessie and Lily, who were already sat next to one another, looked thrilled. Dessie’s weapon form was a hatchet and Lily’s was a medieval flail. Whereas both girls were friendly enough they’d no doubt make a pretty scary team with such intimidating weapon forms.

“Now… Since everyone seems happy with their teams, let’s move on to the meisters,” continued Professor Stein. “First we have Ox Ford and Kilik Rung.”

Kilik gave a very audible ‘yes!’ and punched Ox playfully in the shoulder. The pair of them were already excellent friends, though Ox looked slightly disappointed. He’d probably been hoping to be paired with Kim, Brina thought to herself.

“Next we have Maka Albarn with Casper Jade… And Marista Abbott with Ao Dochi,” Professor Stein read aloud.

Like with the weapons, the scythe meisters had all been paired together. Ao looked relieved and the other girls all appeared to be satisfied with their new partners. Brina, however, was starting to feel almost sick with nerves. Maka already had a partner. That was one person down who she’d been hoping for…

“Kim Diehl and Yvonna Foxx.”

Brina nearly sighed out loud. She wouldn’t have minded being paired with Yvonna herself – she’d been an understanding partner during the trust exercises. Ox was watching the two girls morosely. He’d definitely wanted to be the one teamed up with Kim.

“We also have Black Star and Blood Diamond,” said Professor Stein.

A tall, athletic boy with raven hair put his head down on the desk and groaned quietly to himself. He didn’t get on very well with Black Star – there was a long-running rivalry between the two of them. Brina would have felt sorry for him for being put with someone he wasn’t too fond of, but she was now really starting to worry for herself. There were only five other meisters left….

“Death the Kid, you’re with Brina Hathaway.”

Brina froze, feeling like the bottom of her stomach had dropped out. She heard two sharp intakes of breath from the twins beside her. Professor Stein couldn’t have given her a worse partner! She’d spent all this time worrying about being put with somebody who may laugh at how accident prone she was… She hadn’t even considered being paired with the new student who seemed to positively hate her.

She didn’t look around the classroom – she didn’t want to see what Kid’s reaction would be. Feeling the heat rise in her face, she stared meekly at the desk in front of her. She barely even heard as Professor Stein announced that Circa was with Kera and that Danny Madison, Matt’s older brother, would be with Lily’s meister – Cory Farrell.

“And that’s everybody!” said Professor Stein happily, flipping the pages of his notebook forward again and stuffing it back into his lab coat. “The project will start properly on Monday. Meisters, you’ll still be in this classroom with Sid and myself. Weapons will be in classroom five with Death Scythe and Naigus. You’re all free to go – have a good weekend.”

The classroom finally broke out into an excited babble. Brina practically jumped out of her seat and pushed her way past the twins without waiting for them. She just wanted to get away. She took the steps two at a time, stumbling on the last one and nearly falling flat on her face. She managed to pick herself back up and left the room with her face and her nerves on fire.


	4. Mishaps and Revelations

The following Monday came round far too quickly, in Brina’s opinion – even though she’d spent the whole weekend moping yet again. She felt like she was on a constant loop of getting annoyed at herself for being so depressive, since she was usually such an optimistic person, then remembering why and getting upset and worried all over again.

Though this time the twins refused to let her suffer alone. They practically broke her door down until she finally let them in. Jesse had tried his best to offer reassurance whilst Adrian had been suggesting people who could keep an eye on her during lessons.

He was annoyed because he and Jesse would be in a different class and so they wouldn’t be able to defend Brina if Kid started giving her a hard time. They knew she wouldn’t stand up for herself.

“I guess you could ask that Black Star guy,” Adrian had suggested reluctantly. He didn’t get along with people as it was, but he found Black Star to be particularly tedious. “He’s one of Maka’s friends, right? He’d stick up for you.”

“I’m not asking anyone to stick up for me,” Brina had protested. “I’ll just have to deal with it myself.”

So on Monday morning Brina was feeling very miserable as she had to split up from the twins. “See you later,” she said dully, as she reached Professor Stein’s classroom. They both bid her good luck and carried on down the corridor.

When she got inside there were a fair few people already there and they were all standing. She noticed with relief that Kid wasn’t there yet. Professor Stein spotted Brina as she came in.

“Ah, Brina... We’re just waiting for the last few to turn up,” he told her. “You can pop your things on one of the desks as usual but then I need you to wait down here with the others.”

Brina nodded and went over to put her bag on one of the desks on the front row. She didn’t want to risk going up any of the stairs while there was still attention on her. She then went to stand by Maka and Casper.

The last few students, including Kid, soon filed into the room. They were followed by Sid – who still taught classes at the academy, despite being a blue-skinned zombie with a rather large hole in his forehead.

“Hey class,” he greeted everyone. “Excited about starting the new project?”

The response was positive from the majority of the class. Most of the meisters were quite pleased with their new partners. Blood grumbled something but Black Star himself didn’t seem particularly bothered by their new partnership. 

Brina, of course, didn’t say anything. She was still avoiding looking at Kid for fear of seeing his reaction, but she knew she couldn’t get away with that for much longer. They’d have no choice but to start getting used to working together today.

“Well I don’t think there’s anyone else to turn up… Ready to start, Sid?” asked Professor Stein.

“Ready when you are, Stein,” replied Sid.

“Right…” said Professor Stein, now addressing the class. “As you know this project is to help you develop new fighting techniques and to get you used to working alongside other meisters, rather than relying on your weapons.”

“Now obviously none of you are gonna be used to your new partners, or even really at working with other meisters at all, so we’re expecting you to be sloppy at first,” added Sid. “We’ll work on more trust exercises to get you used to your partners before we get into the real stuff. Then later on in the project we’ll look at working on matching soul wavelengths.”

“But for now we’re gonna give you some basic fighting practice before we work on anything else,” said Professor Stein.

“Before the trust exercises?” asked Maka. 

“Yes. We want to see how you’d handle yourselves without any help from us beforehand,” explained Professor Stein. “What you can demonstrate for us now will give us an idea of what would really happen if you were suddenly thrown into a situation where you had no weapons to fight with. Obviously some of you will fare better than others.”

“So does this mean we’re being tested on this?” enquired Marista.

“Not at all,” replied Professor Stein. “You’re all in the same boat here. We just want a general idea of what sort of starting point you’re at.”

“So this is what we’re gonna do to start off with…” announced Sid. “Last week you all had one-on-one fighting practice against Stein. We’re going to try something similar. Only this time you’ll be fighting in your pairs against both Stein _and_ myself. Since there’ll be two of you, there’s two of us.”

“So if you’d all like to just go and sit at the front row, out of the way… Except for Danny and Cory – we’ll have you first,” Professor Stein decided.

Danny and Cory gave each other nervous glances and remained at the front of the classroom whilst the others quickly found seats in the first row. Brina could hear frantic whispering as some of the new teams hurriedly tried to devise strategies. She bit her lip. Her and Kid should probably be doing the same…

She reluctantly turned to him – he’d taken the seat next to her – but she still didn’t quite look him in the eye. “Um, do you think we should come up with a plan?”

Kid refused to look at her. “Do whatever you want,” he said carelessly. “We already may as well be descending into anarchy; how could we possibly restore order now?”

Brina stared at the side of his head, completely baffled. Order? Anarchy? What the hell was he talking about? But she didn’t push it. She felt grateful that he hadn’t insulted her this time – she didn’t really want to give him another opportunity to do so.

She turned her attention back to Danny and Cory’s practice. They weren’t doing too bad considering they didn’t have much experience in fighting without their weapons.

Though as soon as she had thought it Danny stumbled, trying to avoid a backhanded swipe from Sid. Sid was then able to grab him by the arm. “You’re dead,” he said simply, indicating that the practice was over.

Cory had hesitated, seeing that Sid had stopped his partner, giving Professor Stein the chance to lay a hand on his shoulder. “And you’re dead.”

The boys exchanged glances – they both looked upset over how they’d done. They’d been caught out so easily. The practice had barely even lasted two minutes.

“Don’t look so disappointed,” reassured Professor Stein. “We’re not expecting anyone to do brilliantly yet. This is just so we can get an idea of everyone’s potential.”

“Plus looking out for your partner already shows you have good teamwork skills,” Sid added to Cory. “You just have to learn how to watch your own back as well.”

Both meisters looked mollified by this and returned to their seats looking slightly happier. Professor Stein called Ox and Kilik up to try next.

Brina was starting to feel ill again. Danny and Cory had been taken out so quickly! She may have done fairly well against Professor Stein before but both him _and_ Sid at the same time? And without Adrian and Jesse to help her? Not to mention she had a partner who wasn’t even willing to work with her.

Ox and Kilik didn’t last much longer than Danny and Cory had. Their teamwork was a little better since they were already good friends, but they concentrated more on Sid, leaving Professor Stein with the opportunity to catch them out. He caught Ox by the shoulder.

“Wait!” protested Kilik, whirling round when he realised that Ox had been stopped.

Sid grabbed him by the hair as he darted towards Professor Stein. “Don’t turn your back on your opponent. Now you’re both dead.”

“It was still a solid effort,” Professor Stein told them as the two meisters made their way back to their seats, looking defeated. “I think next we’ll have Kid and Brina.”

Brina felt her stomach somersault. Damn… She’d been planning on having more time to mentally prepare herself. No such luck. She heard Kid sigh as he got up. She rose from her seat, feeling extremely nervous as she meekly followed him to the front of the classroom. She was finding it difficult to remember to pick her feet up. But she couldn’t stumble now…

Kid stood so that he was facing Professor Stein. Brina reluctantly took her place behind him, facing Sid. If Kid wasn’t going to help her plan out a strategy then she was just going to have to work off what he did using her own logic.

“And go,” ordered Sid, lunging forwards as he spoke.

Brina ducked sideways out of his way, roughly pushing Kid in the other direction as she did so that he wouldn’t be caught by Sid either. Kid shot her an irritated look as he regained his balance, before blocking a punch from Professor Stein.

Brina bristled, annoyed. There wasn’t time for niceties – she was only trying to help. Plus if Kid got taken out then she wouldn’t last long on her own against both teachers. But she could practically feel the hostility coming from Kid in waves and it was starting to make her flustered. She accidentally bumped against him, trying to keep her attention on Sid and Professor Stein.

Of course this only annoyed Kid further. He pushed her away the second time it happened. “Watch it! You’ll get us both caught out!”

Brina gritted her teeth. She was trying as hard as she could. But she was getting increasingly bothered by Kid’s attitude and it was making her lose her focus more. As she awkwardly tried to avoid a blow from Sid she lost her footing and crashed sideways into Kid, knocking them both to the floor.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Kid said angrily, quickly scrambling to his feet.

Though he wasn’t quite quick enough. He felt fingers grasping at his arm and tried to jerk away but Sid pulled him back, wrapping a strong arm around his throat to hold him still and emphasise his point.

“Calm down, Kid. You’re already dead,” Sid announced simply.

“You’re dead too, Brina.” Professor Stein laid a hand on Brina’s head, who was still sat on the floor looking stunned.

Giggles rose around the classroom, snapping Brina back to attention. She got to her feet, her face on fire. Kid was fuming at how the practice had gone. He yanked Sid’s arm away and went back to his seat without saying a word. Brina followed miserably but this time she sat several seats away from him.

“Let’s have Kim and Yvonna next,” Professor Stein decided.

And so it went on. Each team had their own turn against Sid and Professor Stein. Every one of them got tagged out.

After they’d been round everyone in the class the teachers then divided them into groups of four, pitting the pairs of meisters against each other in a similar exercise to what they’d just been doing. Professor Stein reckoned that it would be a fairer opportunity for them since they were all on equal ground. 

For Brina, this exercise went even worse than the last one had. Kid still refused to work with her, which was hitting her self-esteem hard and in turn destroying her focus – and her balance – completely. Not only did she collide with Kid several more times, she also tripped over Marista’s foot at one stage and then fell into Ao – the meister pair that they’d been teamed against. Kid was livid by the time the bell rang to signal the lunch period. 

“And my father said you were a good meister,” Kid muttered under his breath as he stormed out.

Unfortunately, it was still loud enough for Brina to hear. Feeling even more miserable she fumbled unnecessarily with the zipper on her bag, making sure that there was a wide berth between her and Kid before she left the classroom.

However Professor Stein seemed to have heard what Kid had said too and stopped Brina as she was leaving. “Don’t let what Kid said get you down. I doubt it was personal.”

Brina didn’t agree. “I don’t know why he seems to hate me so much,” she said dejectedly.

“Oh I wouldn’t go that far,” reassured Professor Stein lightly. “He’ll come around; don’t worry. He wasn’t so keen on me at first either.”

Brina looked at him in surprise. “He didn’t like _you_? Why not?”

But Professor Stein just smiled and said nothing, simply turning the screw in the side of his head as if that was the answer. Brina took that as her cue to leave.

She didn’t go outside or to the lunch hall – the usual places that she spent her lunchtimes. The twins or one of her other friends would be bound to find her at either place and she couldn’t handle that right now. If she had to relive this morning then she’d probably break down in tears.

Instead she headed towards the roof of the academy – the last place anyone would think to look for her. She never went up to the roof. There were too many stairs, which in her case meant too many risks of falling over and embarrassing herself.

She took as much time as she wanted climbing the many stairs. It wasn’t like she needed the time to eat – her appetite was completely non-existent after the disaster of a morning she’d just endured.

Once she was at the top she settled down on the floor with her back to one of the walls, facing away from the stairs. Finally she could just be alone.

The lunch hour passed far too quickly for her liking. Before she knew it the bell was ringing to indicate the students return to classes. Brina didn’t even bother moving. Why should she go back and be ridiculed for another couple of hours? No way. She was staying right here.

She sat and stared at the wall opposite, trying her best to clear her mind. She had no idea how much time had now passed. She vaguely wondered what the twins would think if they knew she was skipping class… At least Adrian would probably be impressed by it.

Her dull thoughts were eventually interrupted by footsteps in the stairwell. Was it time for them to go home yet? Had the twins come looking for her? Or was it one of the teachers wanting to know why she wasn’t in class?

She reluctantly turned to see when she heard the footsteps reach the top and blanched. It was Kid. Had he purposely sought her out to torture her even more?

She turned away again, biting her lip as she so often did when she was nervous. If he said just one more unkind thing to her then she had no doubt that she was going to cry. She could feel tears welling in her eyes just at the thought of it. She hastily bowed her head so that the longer side of her hair swung forward and hid her face.

Kid stopped so that he was stood directly beside her – she could see his shadow. He didn’t say a word. Was he waiting for her to speak first? Why should she? She had nothing to say to him.

But if there was one thing Brina hated it was awkward silences. It didn’t take long before she couldn’t stand it. She decided to just be abrupt with him. Maybe if he thought she was pissed off he’d leave her alone. The twins were always telling her to stand up for herself after all.

So she turned to look directly at him, mustering as much volume as she could. “What?”

But she couldn’t do aggressive. Her voice broke embarrassingly on that one word. Cringing, she felt tears threaten her eyes again so she dipped her head back down.

Kid didn’t say anything for what seemed like a very long time. Then he finally managed in a very strained voice, “Sorry.”

Brina reluctantly looked up at him again, still not feeling the slightest bit better. “Did Professor Stein send you here to say that?”

“Professor Stein thinks I’ve gone to the bathroom,” said Kid coolly. “Well he probably doesn’t anymore seeing as I’ve been gone for almost an hour.”

“Too good for classes altogether now?” asked Brina. Her voice still didn’t sound scathing like she’d intended. Urgh, she was so bad at this.

“Actually I’ve been looking for you,” said Kid hesitantly.

Brina eyed him warily. What she really wanted to ask him was why. But instead she asked, “How did you know to find me here?”

“I didn’t exactly. But this is somewhere I’d probably come if I was in a bad mood,” replied Kid.

“You noticed, huh?” said Brina, finally managing to inject a bit of sarcasm into her tone. Bully for her.

Again, Kid didn’t say anything for several long moments. Then, with what seemed to cost him great effort, he moved round and sat down on the ground beside Brina. Brina stared at him, completely baffled. He’d been so mean to her in class… Why was he suddenly trying to be chummy?

“I’m sorry,” Kid repeated suddenly in the same strained voice as before, pointedly not looking at her. “I acted like a jerk.”

His eyes were hidden by his hair so Brina couldn’t read his expression. But she was normally quite good at estimating a person’s mood regardless. She noticed that Kid was clutching his knees with shaking hands. She vaguely noted that he was wearing identical rings on each hand. That was strange, having two the same…

But what she really noticed was that he didn’t seem to _want_ to say sorry. Not because he was ashamed or nervous… But because he didn’t really seem to mean it. It was almost as if he’d forced himself to say it out of courtesy.

“You don’t really mean it though, do you?” said Brina bluntly.

Kid was silent once again. Brina stared at him in disbelief. Why had he wasted his time if he didn’t even mean it? What was the point? Annoyed and completely worn out from trying to understand, Brina got to her feet and left Kid still sitting on the floor.

She’d just started towards the stairs when Kid suddenly blurted out from behind her, “Will you just let me cut your hair?!”

Brina whirled around, completely dumbstruck yet again. Kid still hadn’t gotten up – he now had his face resting on his knees and was clutching his head with both hands. What was wrong with him? Was he having some kind of mental breakdown? 

And she didn’t understand what her hair could possibly have to do with it, of all things. Was he trying to be funny? She knew her hairstyle was a complete mess since she’d butchered it – that was why she’d always tried to make it look like it was intentional.

“Excuse me?” she said, making sure she’d heard him properly.

Kid finally pulled himself to his feet. He stepped towards Brina, his hands now clenched into fists at his sides. Brina almost took a nervous step back. Maybe he really did have some kind of mental issue! He wasn’t looking completely with it right now.

When he did eventually look her in the eye properly, his voice took on its strained edge again. “Everything has to be symmetrical. The world just doesn’t work right if it’s not balanced.”

“Erm… come again?” Brina had no idea what he was talking about.

“Symmetry!” Kid repeated impatiently. “Everything must be aesthetically pleasing. How can things be balanced if they’re not perfectly symmetrical? It’s impossible!”

Brina was now feeling quite worried. What the hell was he talking about? She decided he actually looked quite peaky close up. Maybe he was delirious with something… That would explain the rambling at least.

“Erm Kid, do you wanna sit back down or something?” she suggested hesitantly. “I don’t really understand what you’re talking about…”

“Your hair!” Kid burst out, looking agonised. “It’s not symmetrical at all! It’s been driving me crazy – how can you stand it!”

Brina stared at him, feeling a light bulb switch on somewhere in her brain. She’d heard about things like this before… People having an obsessive need to follow certain patterns or carry out particular activities so that they could feel satisfied. Was this what Kid had? Some kind of OCD over symmetry?

She tugged at a strand of hair distractedly, feeling mystified. “It’s really just my hair that’s been bothering you all this time?” she asked slowly.

“Yes!” exclaimed Kid exasperatedly, leaning right in towards her and looking like he wanted to shake her. “Please, _please_ just let me cut it! I’ve been having nightmares over it!”

“Um, okay!” Brina squeaked quickly. She felt like she should have been offended by the nightmares comment but she was more interested in shutting him up.

“Thank you!” Kid exclaimed, suddenly beaming. He looked like he was either going to hug her or cry with joy. Brina wasn’t sure if she could cope with either. “Let’s do it now!”

“Now? But we’re supposed to be in class still,” Brina pointed out, still highly unnerved by his sudden change of attitude.

“That doesn’t matter! We’ve missed most of it anyway!” insisted Kid, grabbing Brina’s hand. “Let’s go!”

“But where are we going?” asked Brina, feeling completely swept away and trying to grab onto anything that made an ounce of sense.

“Back to Gallows Manor,” replied Kid, dragging her towards the stairwell. “We’ll get this fixed immediately.”

Brina had no choice but to allow herself to be pulled down the stairs by the suddenly enthusiastic grim reaper. Well if she fell down them now at least this time she’d be able to blame him for it.


	5. A Little Symmetry Never Hurt Anyone

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Brina asked nervously.

She was sat in one of the rooms of Gallows Manor and was now starting to regret her decision. It didn’t help that she had a slightly crazy grim reaper stood in front of her, looking quite menacing holding a pair of scissors.

“Of course I do,” said Kid stiffly. 

“So you’ve done this before?” Brina felt a little relieved.

“Well no, not exactly. But I have a perfect sense of symmetry so it’ll be fine,” replied Kid.

Oh great. That wasn’t exactly comforting. “If you give me a bowl cut I’m gonna kill you,” Brina muttered. She didn’t find Kid particularly intimidating now that she knew his hostility just came from his own crazy obsession.

Kid chose to ignore her comment. He pulled the hair-tie out of her hair so that the longer side spilled down to her shoulder. His expression grew more annoyed as he looked at her, so he hastily cut a chunk out of the longer side.

“Hey, don’t cut that much off at once!” protested Brina, seeing it fall to the floor. If he wasn’t careful then she was going to end up bald!

“Don’t worry, I’ll even it out,” reassured Kid.

As he measured out another lock of Brina’s hair his fingers brushed against her neck. Brina shuddered. His fingers were cold.

“What?” Kid gave her a quizzical look, having noticed her reaction.

“Nothing,” Brina mumbled, keeping her gaze resolutely on the floor.

She watched as more hair joined the first fallen curl on the stone floor, failing to notice as Kid’s mood continued to darken. She jumped when he suddenly spoke.

“What is this?” he asked, annoyed, tapping her collarbone with the flat side of the scissors.

Brina winced. She had a spider web tattoo on one side of her collarbone that she’d gotten not long after she’d started at the DWMA. She’d completely forgotten about it. It was usually hidden by the longer side of her hair.

“Um, a tattoo…” she said hesitantly, deliberating avoiding Kid’s gaze.

Kid closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He looked like he was physically in pain. “Why do you only have it on one side?”

“Well it’d look stupid if I had it on both sides,” said Brina with a shrug.

“Of course it wouldn’t! Then it would be symmetrical!” argued Kid in frustration.

“I think we have a different idea of what looks stupid…” Brina muttered to herself.

She couldn’t help noticing that Kid was a bit of a hypocrite seeing as he had three white stripes in one side of his raven hair, but not the other. Though somehow she had a feeling that he wouldn’t appreciate it if she pointed that out.

“Hmmm…” Kid rubbed his thumb across Brina’s tattoo, inspecting it closer. “I wonder if it’d be removable…”

“No way, I don’t want it removed! I paid sixty bucks for it!” exclaimed Brina, pulling away from him. Even if she had been able to afford it – not to mention willing to risk laser surgery – she wouldn’t have done it. She liked her tattoo. Kid was being totally unreasonable.

“But it’s not symmetrical!” protested Kid angrily.

“I don’t care! I’m letting you cut my hair, aren’t I? You’ve gotta meet me in the middle here!” Brina burst out. “You got used to Professor Stein, didn’t you? Surely you can put up with this too!”

Because now it made sense when Professor Stein had told her that it had taken a while for Kid to warm up to him. He wasn’t exactly the perfect picture of symmetry with the uneven stitches across his face and the giant screw impaled through his head.

Kid still looked annoyed but he conceded reluctantly. “Fine,” he grumbled, cutting at Brina’s hair again.

He carried on in silence and Brina went back to watching her hair fall to the floor. She zoned out for a while until she suddenly realised that Kid was crouching in front of her, his face far too close to hers and one hand on either side of her head.

“Umm…” Brina was suddenly too nervous to ask what he was doing. She could feel the heat rising in her face…

But as she watched Kid’s golden eyes flick from side to side and felt him tugging lightly at her hair, she realised that he was just checking to see if it was even. That made her feel stupid and her face grew even hotter. Luckily Kid didn’t seem to notice.

“That’s perfect,” he said, looking pleased. He straightened up, needlessly dusting himself off.

“Have you got a mirror?” requested Brina, looking around. She made to get up out of her chair but Kid pushed her back down. She looked up at him in surprise.

“Hold on a second…” he ordered before she could say anything. He then started to brush the loose hair from her shoulders.

Brina stared at him. Wow, he really was obsessed with everything being perfect… She actually felt a little sorry for him. It must be difficult having to live life in such a controlled manner.

“Now you can get up,” said Kid once he was satisfied. “There’s a mirror just through that door on the right.”

“Err, thanks.” Brina quickly got up and made for the door that Kid had pointed out.

The room appeared to be a small downstairs bathroom. Brina immediately looked for a light switch before realising that the room was perfectly lit as it was. She inspected the symmetrical lines of candles in amusement. They were even all burning at the same height! The mirror was framed in the centre of the wall opposite so Brina hastened over to it.

She inspected her hair from every angle that she could. Both sides were shorter than they had been but they were indeed perfectly symmetrical. It was cut a little choppy, almost like it had been layered. Brina decided she quite liked it. Though she wondered if any of the teachers would get on her case now that her tattoo was on show…

She went back through to thank Kid and found him with a dustpan full of hair. She bit her lip to keep herself from laughing. He hadn’t even been able to leave the mess on the floor for two minutes before cleaning it up.

However before Brina could say anything the main door opened. She looked round in surprise and saw that it was Liz and Patty. Classes had obviously finished now. The sisters looked completely stunned to see Brina there.

“Hey Brina… Is everything okay?” asked Liz, looking from Brina to Kid and back again.

“Yeah, everything’s fine,” replied Brina, smiling knowingly to herself.

“Wow, did you cut your hair? It looks great!” said Patty enthusiastically, skipping over to her with Liz in tow.

“Erm no, I didn’t do it…” started Brina, looking over at Kid.

Liz and Patty exchanged looks and both grinned. “I should have warned you not to let Kid near scissors,” Liz laughed.

Brina couldn’t help smiling. Kid just gave his weapon partners a derisive look before disappearing through one of the other doors with the full dustpan. They all laughed once he was out of earshot.

“He finally came around then?” said Liz, seeming pleased.

“Yeah, I think so…” answered Brina, who still felt quite lost over the whole ordeal.

“I love your tattoo!” exclaimed Patty, who was now inspecting the permanent artwork on Brina’s collarbone.

“Thanks. I’m glad someone does,” Brina smiled.

“Did Kid go crazy when he saw it?” asked Liz understandingly.

Brina nodded. “Pretty much. I told him to just deal with it.”

Liz beamed and clapped a hand on Brina’s shoulder. “That’s it! He’s pretty easy to handle once you know what he’s like. He’s just a bit of a spoilt brat really.”

“Has he always been like that?” asked Brina hesitantly.

Liz nodded. “Apparently he picked it up from a really young age. He’s been totally crazy the whole time we’ve known him. That’s why he wanted us as his weapons – because there’s two of us.”

Everything was starting to make more and more sense now. “But what about the stripes in his hair?” Brina pressed on. “Doesn’t that bother him?”

“Oh yeah it does… Don’t ever mention it to him unless you wanna see him cry,” said Liz with a sigh.

Brina’s eyes widened. “ _Cry_? Are you serious?”

“Totally. You wanna see?” grinned Liz. She then shouted at the closed door that Kid had disappeared through. “Hey Kid!”

“No, don’t! I don’t want you to make him _cry_!” Brina protested, flapping her hands frantically.

Liz and Patty both started laughing again at Brina’s reaction. The door opened and Kid looked out. “What is it?”

“Oh it’s nothing,” Liz dismissed him, still grinning.

“Nothing at all,” added Patty with a giggle.

Brina rolled her eyes. They weren’t very subtle. She noticed that Kid was now looking at her. “Um, I’d actually better be going now. Thanks though… For the haircut, I mean.”

“Not a problem. I’ll see you in class tomorrow,” said Kid, shutting the door behind him.

Brina bid goodbye to the Thompson sisters too as they let her out through the front door. She then made her way back towards her apartment, absent-mindedly playing with her newly cut hair.

It felt weird not having one side longer than the other. She wasn’t used to it being even. Being _balanced_ … That was what Kid was so obsessed with. He’d said that the world couldn’t work properly if it wasn’t balanced…

Well if that was true then she was screwed, Brina thought grumpily to herself. Everyone knew her balance was awful.

**XXX**

“Alright class... For the rest of this week we’re going to be introducing you to some new trust exercises,” announced Professor Stein. 

“Then next week we’ll look at some more fighting practice before we move onto resonating souls,” added Sid.

“But first we’re going to start you off with some of the basic techniques that we tried out last week,” said Professor Stein. “Just to start getting you all used to your new partners.”

Brina nodded along with Professor Stein’s introduction, determined to do well this time. She hadn’t done too badly at the trust exercises before but she _had_ still managed to drop Yvonna on the floor. It had taken quite a bit of compromise to set up her truce with Kid – she didn’t really want to ruin that by causing any injury to him too. 

Luckily the first day of lessons passed without any mishaps, which Brina was greatly relieved for. She felt that she could relax a little more. The exercises weren’t difficult and as long as she didn’t allow anything to break her concentration then she didn’t end up accidentally damaging Kid or anybody else.

“You’re all doing great so far,” Professor Stein praised the class at the end of their last lesson. “Tomorrow morning will be outdoor activities so I’d like for us all to meet at the basketball court just outside of the academy. There’ll be no need for you to come up to the classroom first.”

Oh great, thought Brina. She hoped that didn’t mean they were going to play basketball. She wasn’t very good at sports. They generally required the kind of natural balance that she just didn’t have.

So she was feeling nervous again as she made her way down to the basketball court the next morning. Most of the class were already there when she turned up. She heard Circa and Kera talking about Professor Stein’s plans for the lesson so she hastened over to join them.

“You don’t know if he’s gonna get us playing basketball or anything, do you?” Brina asked them.

“I don’t think so,” replied Circa. “We thought that too so we stayed behind after the class was over and asked if we’d need to wear sneakers… But he said it’d be fine.”

“So I doubt we’ll be doing anything too sporty,” added Kera. “You know what teachers are like… You _have_ to wear the right gym kit apparently.”

That made Brina feel better. She already had enough doubts about this project without the idea of playing sports hanging over her. Whilst they were talking amongst themselves the rest of the class turned up, along with Professor Stein and Sid. Professor Stein was carrying a large plastic package under his arm.

“Morning class,” he greeted them cheerfully. He noticed that most of the students were eyeing the package under his arm interestedly. “I see that most of you seem to have noticed that I come bearing gifts. We’re going to be using these for practice today.”

He tore the package open and pulled one of the objects out to show them. It looked like a foot-long rubber strap with a loop on either end.

“What are they?” asked Kim curiously.

“They’re called partner straps,” explained Professor Stein. “You each fix one end around your hands. Wearing these means that you have to rely on and work with your partner entirely to carry out even the most basic activities.”

“You mean they’re like handcuffs?” asked Maka scornfully.

“Pretty similar to handcuffs, yes,” Professor Stein agreed. “And don’t give me that look, Maka. These are really popular with grade school classes and youth groups.”

“Is that supposed to make us feel better that he’s comparing us to grade schoolers?” Blood muttered to nobody in particular.

“Professor Stein’s going to hand these out to each team,” Sid continued. “Once you’ve fitted them on we have a series of activities for you to do.”

Professor Stein walked round the group, distributing the partner straps. Brina felt uneasy as she slid her left hand through one of the loops on the strap that he’d given to her and Kid. She tightened it around her wrist. Why did she have a feeling that this was going to go horribly wrong?

Once every team had a partner strap Professor Stein then pulled the last thing out of the package he’d been carrying. It was a basketball. Brina felt her stomach drop. So they were going to have to play… She saw Circa and Kera swap confused glances, since they’d already been told otherwise.

“We’re not going to be playing a proper game,” Professor Stein pointed out, as everyone’s eyes were now on the basketball in his hand. “We’re going to try out some throwing and catching exercises. If you do well at that then we may try teaming a few of you against each other and see how that goes. Marista, catch!”

With no more warning than that Professor Stein threw the ball to her. Marista flung her arms up to catch it, hindered by Ao who had taken a second to catch on and hadn’t raised her own arm quite as quickly. Marista managed to catch the basketball but only just by her fingertips.

“Not so easy when you have to count on someone else to help you simply catch a ball,” Professor Stein commented with a smile.

“Continue to pass the ball like this for now,” directed Sid. “Say the name of the person you’re going to pass to so that you give both them and their partner enough notice.”

Marista nodded, choosing who to pass the ball to next. “Casper.”

Casper caught the ball easily as it was passed to her – both her and Maka being on high alert. “Black Star.”

Black Star fumbled the ball slightly but still caught it. Blood hadn’t moved quite as quickly, much in the same way that Ao had done. Wanting to cover up his blunder Black Star passed the ball on swiftly. “Kid!”

Brina hadn’t been as prepared for the quick pass as Kid had and didn’t move nowhere near fast enough. Kid stopped the ball from hitting him in the face with his free hand but wasn’t able to catch it when his other arm was weighed down by Brina. The ball bounced off his hand and rolled away across the floor.

“Sorry!” exclaimed Brina embarrassedly, as Kid shot her an annoyed look. Danny ran to retrieve the ball.

Brina sighed. She probably should have given Kid extra warning before they’d started these exercises. He could cut her hair and make her as symmetrical as he liked… But it was going to take a lot more than that to combat her natural clumsiness.


	6. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

The partner straps turned out to be quite disastrous, albeit a little amusing. As promised, Professor Stein had assigned several of the teams to start up a mini game of basketball. It didn’t work out too well. The ball was dropped many times – it was a lot more difficult to catch with the pairs trying to move around the court as well as concentrate on what their partner was doing.

Not to mention the amount of times the teams got their partner straps tangled with others or tripped over their partner’s feet. Several of the students left for lunch with injuries. Both Black Star and Blood had grazed knees from tripping each other up and Ox had given Kilik a brilliant black eye whilst trying to catch the ball.

Brina was extremely grateful that her and Kid hadn’t been chosen to participate in the game. The partner straps seemed to make _everybody_ clumsy! Which was probably why Professor Stein had let her pass on this occasion – her reputation was too well-known in his class. Kid didn’t seem too bothered about not participating either, after seeing the mayhem that had ensued.

The teams that hadn’t been a part of the mini basketball game weren’t off the hook for long though. Professor Stein had them all involved in a larger game later that afternoon. Whereas some of the pairs were now used to it, it didn’t make up for everybody else and the game seemed to go even worse.

The students all left at the end of the day, aching and grumbling. Brina decided to head over to the weapons’ classroom in the hope of meeting the twins from there. Professor Stein had been keeping them so busy that she hadn’t seen them since Monday morning.

She rubbed her wrist as she headed back up to the school. She was grateful to have the partner strap off. She hoped they wouldn’t be using them again. Like she needed anything else to make her more unbalanced…

She spotted the twins coming out of the classroom before they saw her, since they were so much taller than most of the other students. “Adrian! Jess!”

“Hey Bree,” greeted Jesse, as they weaved their way over to her. “Were you waiting for us?”

“What have you done to your hair?” Adrian asked abruptly before she could reply.

“Don’t you like it?” asked Brina.

“Not really… Your old style was better,” replied Adrian, blunt as always.

Brina just shrugged it off. “It needed cutting.” She knew what his reaction would be if she told him that Kid had been the one to cut her hair for her.

It was as if Jesse knew where Brina’s thought trail was leading. “So how have your lessons been going? Has Lord Death’s son been treating you okay?”

“Yeah, he’s been loads better actually,” said Brina truthfully. “We’ve just been doing trust exercises really. I guess they’re not so bad…”

“Huh. He changed his tune pretty quick,” grunted Adrian.

“Well I’m not complaining,” said Brina with another shrug, trying her best to sound casual about it. “So do you two wanna come back to mine for something to eat? I’ve barely seen you all week.”

She said the last part with a pout, bringing a grin to Jesse’s face and even a reluctant smile to Adrian’s. “Sounds good,” said Jesse brightly. “Let’s get out of here!”

“So how’s the new project going for you guys so far?” Brina asked when they were all sat in her lounge with some takeaway pizzas. She was sure that the twins would be having a more fun time of it since they were in a team together.

“It’s not so bad,” replied Jesse. “Naigus is a pretty cool teacher and Death Scythe isn’t so bad when he’s not drooling over his daughter.”

“They haven’t really taught us anything new yet though,” added Adrian, who was picking at his pizza.

“Well we’re still only in the first week I guess… Eat it properly Ade, you’re getting bits on my floor,” said Brina reproachfully.

Adrian made a non-committal noise but he obligingly scooped up the bits of pepper with a napkin. “So you’re not really enjoying it, are you? This new set-up, I mean.”

Brina always found it disconcerting when the twins could tell what she was thinking even when she tried to hide it. She could read people easily but she wasn’t used to others doing the same with her.

“Well I’d much rather be with you guys but it’s not like we have a choice. It’s just hard starting afresh like this,” sighed Brina. She’d worked so hard to perfect her teamwork with the twins – it just felt like being back to square one again. “And some of the activities we’ve been doing are kinda difficult. Professor Stein says he’s got a challenge for us tomorrow. He sounded pretty smug about it so I’m not really looking forward to that…”

“Maybe he’s gonna get all you guys to fight against us weapons,” Adrian suggested.

Brina recoiled in horror at the thought. “He can’t do that!”

“Of course he won’t,” said Jesse, giving Adrian an impatient look. “Ade’s just playing you up. Plus there’s too many weapons for that anyway.”

The twins couldn’t offer much consolation over Professor Stein’s project and Jesse purposely changed the subject as soon as he could. It was clear that Brina didn’t want to stay up too late, wanting to make sure she was as prepared as she could be for what the following day had in store, so the twins soon bid her goodbye and allowed her to get an early night.

**XXX**

When Brina got to the academy the following morning she found Professor Stein, Sid and some of the other meisters already waiting outside. The assault course that they’d had to beat previously was back in place and Professor Stein was carrying the bag of partner straps again.

Brina’s heart sank. It wasn’t difficult to put two and two together, but that didn’t necessarily mean that she liked the outcome.

Once the rest of the class had turned up the teachers quickly organised them into a queue and handed out the partner straps. “I’m guessing that this exercise doesn’t need much explaining,” said Professor Stein. “You can probably figure out what we want you to do here.”

“Complete the course with your partner,” Sid ordered shortly. He held up a stopwatch. “We’ll be timing you so that we can see who needs to work more on their teamwork skills.”

Professor Stein waited until each team had fixed their partner straps in place before stopping to stand at the front of the queue. Black Star and Blood were up first. “Are you ready?”

Both boys were practically bouncing with adrenaline. Blood was a bit antisocial and generally came across as quite laidback, but his standing rivalry with Black Star had made him quite competitive since they’d started the new class project. What they didn’t seem to realise was that for this they’d need to put their energy into working together, not against each other.

They both nodded. “Good,” said Professor Stein. “Now go!”

The two boys ploughed eagerly onto the course. The first obstacle – a large square net fixed onto the ground, which they had to crawl under – was the easy part and they breezed through it. Next was a series of wooden hurdles that were all fixed at different heights. The idea was to alternate between going over or under each hurdle – only having seconds to decide which would be quicker.

Neither Black Star nor Blood had had any trouble with this obstacle in the past, but unfortunately it was more difficult as a team. They didn’t communicate their intentions and Blood ducked underneath the third hurdle as Black Star tried to leap over it. Their partner strap got tangled around it and pulled them both to an abrupt halt.

“You’re wasting time!” shouted Sid, holding up the stopwatch.

The boys had begun to argue, but upon hearing Sid’s comment they quickly disentangled themselves and then threw themselves at the next obstacle. They finished with an average time – they’d wasted precious seconds on the hurdles.

The others learnt from their mistake. The next team, Yvonna and Kim, made it through the first two obstacles without any problems. Kim tackled the decisions of the hurdles by shouting short directions of “under” and “over”. They easily made it past the high wall too, which was the following obstacle.

After the high wall was an uphill tunnel that they had to crawl through. The tunnel was slippery with no handholds and they had to transfer their weight to both hands and feet in order to manoeuvre their way through. Kim slipped near the top and nearly kicked Yvonna in the eye, causing them both to slide back down to the bottom. They managed to make it through but it cost them valuable time.

Ox and Kilik only made it to the high wall before making their first mistake. They didn’t time their run-up together and Ox slowed Kilik down just enough to stop him reaching the top of the wall, meaning they had to backtrack for a second attempt at it.

Circe and Kera were the first team to make it through the entire course perfectly. Brina watched them in awe – they made everything look so easy! Their movements already seemed to be impeccably synchronised, despite only having worked together for less than a week.

But she didn’t have long to admire their attempt because now it was her and Kid’s turn. She clenched her fists as Professor Stein waved them forwards. She was determined to do well this time. It was bad enough that she was always such a clumsy wreck… But holding back Lord Death’s son as well? Now _that_ was embarrassing.

“Are you ready?” Professor Stein called. They both nodded. “Then go!”

Brina started off a little slower than Kid, but the tug on the partner strap as he tried to run on ahead spurred her into action. They raced down the first stretch – Brina praying the whole time that she wouldn’t trip. They sailed through the first obstacle, but she knew that the hurdles would be trickier.

“Go over the first!” Kid shouted as they were reaching the first hurdle.

“Right!” agreed Brina, preparing to jump. They scaled it easily – she didn’t even come close to catching her feet.

“Now under!” directed Kid as they continued towards the second hurdle. They both ducked underneath in neat movements, barely losing any speed. “Over!” 

Their timing was becoming more in sync as they jumped the next hurdle. Brina was starting to feel elated – this was easier than she’d expected. And they were actually working well as a team for the first time!

“Under!” 

“But that one’s too low!” protested Brina.

But he ignored her and by this point they’d already reached the next hurdle. Brina was forced to grind to a complete halt since Kid was already ducking underneath. It was very close to the ground and she wasted valuable seconds trying to follow him through without hitting her head.

She felt a stab of annoyance. Why had they wasted time going underneath when it was clear that it would have been much easier to jump over? But there wasn’t time to argue about it now – they’d picked up their speed again and were already heading for the high wall.

Their performance escalated once more and they ploughed through the next few obstacles, until they reached the second to last part of the course – a see-saw motion balance beam.

Brina tried. She really did… But from the moment they’d first seen the course she’d known that this obstacle would be her downfall.

She let Kid go first – the partner strap allowing them only a few steps of distance between them – and, sure enough, the moment the see-saw started to move Brina lost her balance and toppled off onto the ground, dragging Kid along with her.

“What happened there?!” Kid exclaimed angrily, as they scrambled to their feet. They hadn’t even gotten halfway across.

“I fell off, okay?” Brina retorted just as heatedly. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I don’t have very good balance.”

“You could have fooled me,” Kid muttered under his breath.

“Watch your time, guys!” Sid called helpfully.

Kid and Brina exchanged annoyed glances. Sid was right – they were wasting time; they’d just been standing there arguing. “Let’s go!” Kid growled and they took off again for the next obstacle.

When they finished they knew that they hadn’t scored a very good time. They’d stopped at two different obstacles – more than any of the other teams so far. They rejoined the rest of the class in irritable silence to watch the remaining pairs take their turns.

Marisa and Ao were next. They’d been doing quite well considering Marista had caught her foot and tripped over one of the hurdles, but then they also struggled in the tunnel like Kim and Yvonna had. They ended up with a time not much better than Brina and Kid’s, which made Brina feel a little better.

Maka and Casper flew through the course right up until the rope swing obstacle at the very end, where Maka jumped off the double-sided swing a little too early and pulled Casper off with her. They were pleased with their time though – they still seemed to be second only to Circa and Kera.

The morning was rounded off spectacularly by Danny and Cory zipping through the entire course without any mistakes. They were both beaming by the end of it, feeling that they’d redeemed themselves from their fiasco in fighting practice at the start of the week.

“Now that was eventful, wasn’t it class?” Professor Stein addressed the students once they’d all taken part. He received a series of unenthusiastic replies. “Well you’d better perk up over lunch because we’re going to be doing it all again this afternoon.”

Nobody was impressed by this. Most of the students groaned out loud and a few cursed under their breath – Kid being one of them. Brina sighed. She thought they’d actually made some progress after the whole haircut ordeal… But it obviously wasn’t enough.

Kid was clearly thinking the same thing. “You need to work on your balance,” he told her.

Brina felt annoyance flare again. It wasn’t exactly that easy... “Oh really? I never thought of that,” she said, a lot more sarcastic than she normally was.

Her attitude made Kid grow more irritated too. “Well it needs to be fixed or this kind of thing is just going to keep on happening.”

“Do you think I haven’t tried?!” Brina protested indignantly. “Of course it’s going to keep on happening – it’s been like this my whole life! Do you think I enjoy it? It’s not really something I can just _fix_.” She wasn’t aware that several classmates were now watching them. “And it wasn’t just me that held us back. That hurdle would have been so much easier to jump! What was _that_ about?”

“If we’d jumped over again then it wouldn’t have been balanced,” Kid argued.

Brina faltered, confused. “Say what?” Now what was he talking about?

“We were in a perfect pattern of going over, then under, then over, then under,” Kid explained more calmly. “If we’d have jumped over the fourth one then it would have ruined everything.”

Brina stared at him. Was he really being serious? “Are you kidding me? That’s it? We screwed up the hurdles just for that?!”

“What do you mean ‘ _that’s it_ ’? It’s a perfect concept of balance!” Kid defended.

“Not if it’s gonna keep affecting our performance,” Brina pointed out. “At least my problem’s an actual physical incapability… You’re just… insane!”

“No, you’re just making excuses for being slow and clumsy!”

“Alright guys,” Sid interrupted, sending that the argument wasn’t going to be over any time soon. “It’s time for lunch so both of you need to just go and chill out.”

“Gladly,” said Brina haughtily, still bristling from the slow comment. She turned on her heels, ready to storm off… Only she’d forgotten to undo the partner strap and she was simply jerked to a halt when she tried to walk away.

A few students giggled, causing the colour to rise in her face. She heard Kid sigh. “Oh here, just let me do it.”

She was forced to stand there with her cheeks flaming whilst Kid loosened the loops on the partner strap. Eventually she was given another chance to storm off, which she managed to do properly the second time. Though that time more out of embarrassment than anything else.


	7. Making Progress

The next few days passed without any improvement. Professor Stein continued to give them more exercises with the partner straps. They were more like standard team building activities, but Brina still didn’t find it any easier. By the time Friday afternoon rolled round she’d managed to fall over twice, bruise both of her knees and pull a muscle in her arm when she’d gotten their partner strap entangled around one of the chairs in the classroom.

She was grateful it was nearly the weekend, but her mood was spoilt when Professor Stein announced that they’d be trying more basketball the following week to see how they’d improved using the partner straps. Brilliant.

After their last class had finished she sloped off to find the twins, feeling like she needed cheering up again. She’d thought that after the initial stage of letting Kid cut her hair – fixing the problem that had been bothering him so much – that they’d be getting along better.

But of course, no amount of haircuts could have any affect on her lack of coordination. Unfortunately, the thing that was annoying Kid now wasn’t as simple to fix… She wasn’t sure that there even was a cure for clumsiness.

She’d only just reached the end of the corridor when somebody shouted her name. “Brina!”

It was Kid. Brina felt dismayed at the sight of him. Now what? Had he followed her all the way from class? She really was oblivious to everything around her when she was thinking. She was surprised she hadn’t crashed into anyone this time!

“What is it?” she asked warily.

“I’ve just spoken to Maka and Black Star,” Kid explained dutifully. “We’re all going to be playing basketball tomorrow morning and I think that you should join us.”

Brina just looked at him. Basketball? Her? Wasn’t it already obvious that basketball wasn’t her thing? “Erm, I’m not really into sports,” she said offhandedly. She didn’t really want to injure herself on her days off too.

“I’ve noticed,” said Kid dryly. “Which is why I think that if you improve your knowledge of the game you should then be able to apply it in our lessons.”

Brina could kind of see his point, but it didn’t make her want to play basketball any more. “So can I not just watch and learn about it that way?” she asked hopefully.

“No, that wouldn’t quite be the same.”

How had she known he was going to say that? But as much as she really didn’t want to have to join in, a part of her could see that Kid was actually trying. And she appreciated that. So far the new class project had only caused them to bicker… It showed just a little promise that Kid was willing to at least try and work around it. She clearly wasn’t the only one who wanted to get through this project successfully.

“Fine,” Brina sighed, unable to argue. “What time do I have to be there for?”

“Eleven o’clock,” replied Kid, before then adding irritably, “Because _apparently_ eight is too early.”

“Erm, okay?” Brina felt a little confused. There was a bit of a difference between eight and eleven… But she decided the easiest thing was just to dismiss it. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow at eleven then.”

“Good. And don’t be late.”

That she could handle. If there was at least one thing Brina could do it was show up on time.

Sure enough, she got down to the basketball court the following morning a few minutes before eleven. Maka and Black Star were already there with Kid, along with their weapon partners. Liz and Patty were talking to Dessie, Blood and the Madison brothers. Yvonna, Clyde, Casper and Phantom were also there on the sidelines.

It was quite a group! Brina didn’t know how many players you were supposed to have in a real game of basketball. Was everybody going to be playing? Or were some of the students just here to watch? The second idea made her stomach twist nervously. Like this wasn’t going to be embarrassing enough already…

“So is somebody gonna actually explain the rules to me?” Brina asked Maka and Casper, as she shuffled over to join them.

“Don’t ask me; we’re just here to watch,” explained Maka. “I don’t have a clue how to play basketball either.”

Brina felt a little better that she wasn’t the only one there who didn’t know anything about basketball. But she wished that she could have just sat and watched from the sidelines too.

“I’ll explain the rules,” Kid interrupted pretentiously, having overheard.

Oh yay, thought Brina. She would have liked to have had a friendlier face explain it to her, but then beggars couldn’t be choosers… “Okay. Shoot.”

“Well obviously the aim of the game is to score by throwing the ball through the hoops…” Kid began to explain.

Brina gritted her teeth, telling herself that he probably _wasn’t_ trying to be patronising. But as he continued on and started explaining about various fouls, Brina then realised too late that she hadn’t actually been taking in everything that he was saying. Her mind had betrayed her and started to wander.

“Do you understand?” Kid asked eventually, once he was finished.

“Err, yeah,” Brina lied, not wanting to ask him to repeat everything.

She just had to hope that the last half of what he’d just said wasn’t that important. Come to think of it, all she’d really been able to grasp was that you couldn’t just run with the ball. You had to either dribble it – which she was sure meant bouncing it along the ground as you were running – or pass it to another player… 

This really wasn’t going to go well.

“Good. Then let’s go and split into teams,” announced Kid, directing Brina towards the group on the basketball court. “You can be on my team – I’ll try to coach you further.”

“Oh great,” Brina muttered to herself, too quietly for him to hear.

“Wait, Brina’s your first choice?” Black Star asked. He sounded amused. Once again, Brina’s reputation had preceded her.

“Hey!” she protested. “Why is that so funny?”

“Come on Brina, even you’ve gotta agree on that one,” laughed Soul.

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” grumbled Brina. She knew she was accident prone, but did she really have to be the butt of everyone’s jokes all the time?

“I figured helping her to learn basketball now might make it easier for us in Stein’s classes next week,” explained Kid.

“Your funeral,” said Black Star with a shrug, grinning at the annoyed look that Brina threw his way. “Hey Tsubaki, you’re on my team, okay?”

“Okay,” Tsubaki agreed with a smile.

“Then I pick Soul,” said Kid, taking his chance to break up the dynamic duo.

“Damn, okay… I pick Patty then,” decided Black Star.

“Phantom.”

“Matt.”

The group whittled down as they were split amongst the two teams. Blood and Yvonna joined Kid’s team, whilst Black Star chose Clyde and Dessie as his final members. Maka, Liz, Danny and Casper took up the benches around the court so that they could watch.

“Let’s get started,” said Kid briskly.

Brina watched confusedly as he and Black Star passed the ball back and forth, then suddenly the game had started and she was already one step behind everyone else. Damn. Okay, so the aim of the game was to get the ball through the hoops… For that they needed the ball in their team’s possession. Right… Get to the ball. Surely she could manage that…

She attempted to follow the group of players that were surrounding Black Star, who was currently still in possession of the ball. But Kid stopped her before she even got close enough to try and help. “No, stay back and stay open,” he shouted to her over the hubbub. “We need free players to pass to.”

“Oh. Right.” Brina stopped where she was. It made sense… There were a few other players standing away from the gaggle of people that were surrounding the ball, including Tsubaki, Matt and Yvonna. They were clearly doing the same thing too.

She backed a distance away from everyone else, trying to keep her own space but all the while still keeping her eye on where the ball was. She watched as Kid feinted to Black Star’s left, then darted right and batted the ball out of his hands. He turned on the spot and passed it straight to Soul.

The others immediately converged in on Soul, who quickly threw the ball out of the crowd and towards Yvonna. Yvonna dribbled the ball down the court but she was being closely followed by Clyde, who was trying to knock it away from her.

“Brina, catch!” she called, seeing that Brina was the only player who wasn’t being marked.

Brina only had seconds to react and instinctively threw her hands up. To her immense surprise she actually caught it. “I got it!” she exclaimed, more to herself than anybody else.

“Go for the basket, Brina!” Kid shouted down from the other end of the court.

Brina snapped back to attention. Of course. Shooting hoops – that was the objective of the game. One of the few things she actually remembered about how to play. And to not run with the ball… That was it; she had to dribble it.

She tried bouncing the ball along the ground as she ran towards the hoop at the end of the court, feeling that this was where she was going to screw things up… But amazingly, it was a lot easier than it looked. She could actually do this!

She’d just neared the basket when Matt dashed past, knocking the ball away from her and then dribbling it back up the court. He was so quick that it took Brina a few seconds to realise what had even happened.

Dammit. She bit her lip, feeling dismayed. She clearly wasn’t any good at this game… But, strangely, none of her teammates seemed annoyed at her like she’d expected. They were now concentrating on getting the ball back from Matt, who was making his way back towards the other basket. Clearly Matt was just a much better basketball player. There wasn’t really anything she could do about that.

Feeling uplifted that it didn’t seem to be her fault that she’d lost the ball to the other team, Brina took up her position again and waited for the better players on her side to regain the ball. As Tsubaki tried passing it to Patty, Blood very narrowly tackled it out of their way and passed it quickly down field to Soul. Sure enough, Soul passed it on further down the court and Brina found herself in possession again.

She ran for the basket as fast as she could, dribbling the ball as she went. She still couldn’t believe how easy this was… This time she was a lot further ahead than the other players and Kid had even followed as backup after seeing what had happened the last time. “Go for it! Shoot!” he encouraged, as soon as she was close enough to the basket.

“Oh, but…” started Brina, feeling that he should take the shot instead. She certainly didn’t have the best aim out of the two of them.

“Just do it!”

Oh well. Brina aimed as best as she could and threw the ball at the hoop, praying it would land…

It didn’t. It bounced right off the edge of the ring.

Clyde had made it back down the court and grabbed the ball before Brina could try for it again. Kid made a wild tackle and managed to hit it out of his hands. Brina caught the ball for the second time, amazed at how well she’d been doing. Kid immediately scooted backwards out of the way as Clyde attempted to regain the ball from Brina.

“Eeep!” Brina squeaked as she tried to back away. For the most part the players on the opposing team had left her alone so far.

“Pass it to me!” shouted Kid. He was still open, though not for long – Black Star and Patty were both closing in on him.

Brina didn’t waste any time. She lobbed the ball at Kid as hard as he could. He caught it with ease and then threw it towards the basket in the same movement. It hit the backboard at the perfect angle and sank through the hoop.

“Yes!” he exclaimed happily.

“Nice one, Kid!” yelled Soul from further down the court.

Brina couldn’t help whooping along with the rest of the team. This game was actually kind of fun! It was a lot easier without the partner straps to hold them down. And because she’d been so focused on where the ball was she found that it hadn’t really allowed her lack of the balance any chance to affect her… Maybe she wasn’t so useless after all!

The ball was put back into play and the game continued. Brina found that she was enjoying herself more and more. She’d only stumbled a few times when her concentration had slipped. But as long as she focused only on the ball she was able to keep her footing in check. It was only when she was aware of the other players around her that she lost her concentration and her usual affliction returned to inconvenience her.

Dessie was next to score a hoop for the other team, but Soul managed to score straight after that and then Phantom did as well. Brina’s team were winning three to one!

She hadn’t scored herself, of course. But she was just happy that she hadn’t caused any major blunders that had cost them the lead. And the fact that she was actually enjoying herself was a bonus!

She’d learnt that people on the opposing team tended to not bother marking her, knowing her reputation, which gave her an advantage since she surprisingly wasn’t as bad as everyone thought she’d be. So she’d made it her job to stay open and away from the group – closer to the other side’s basket.

That worked well for her since she wasn’t very good at keeping the ball if she was directly up against anyone else. But then she wasn’t great at shooting either… Her technique worked best when she had someone good on her defence to come and take over.

Luckily the rest of the team had already realised this and several of them had been taking it in turns to try and cover her. Blood and Yvonna had joined together as a tag team to get the ball down the other end of the court and to still keep the defence up.

Brina continued backing up as Blood and Yvonna passed the ball back and forth, all the while trying to deter Tsubaki and Clyde from successfully intervening. But Matt and Patty had now joined their forces, making it even more difficult for them to keep possession of the ball and still move down the court.

“Heads up, Brina!” shouted Blood when he was sure that he was close enough to pass downfield to her. He took the shot and threw the ball.

“I got it!” The ball looked like it was going to sail past but Brina still dove for it… Only to crash straight into the post.

She’d been a lot closer to the basket than she’d thought.

“Oh Brina! Are you okay?” Tsubaki was the closest to her and the first to rush to her aid. Kid sighed loudly, whilst Soul, Black Star and Patty all exploded into giggles. Several of the other players fought the desire to join in.

“Err, I think so…” said Brina, still on the floor and feeling dazed. She’d smacked her head on the post and the impact had knocked her off her feet. Blinking stars from her eyes, it was still taking her a few moments for what had happened to catch up.

Maka and Liz hurried over from the benches where they’d been watching. “Are you alright, Brina?” asked Maka. “Maybe you should go to the nurse.”

“Yeah, okay…” agreed Brina slowly. Her head was whirling. She’d had plenty of experience with concussions before to know that that wasn’t a good sign.

“Come on,” said Liz, pulling Brina’s arm around her shoulders and helping her to her feet. “I’ll take you. I was only watching anyway.”

“I’ll come too,” offered Casper, who’d followed Liz and Maka over onto the court. She moved to Brina’s other side to help.

“Thanks guys,” said Brina shakily, feeling unsteady on her feet.

“So who’s gonna take Brina’s place now?” Black Star asked loudly once the laughter had subsided. Tsubaki elbowed him in the side and chastised him for being insensitive.

“I will,” said Danny gallantly, coming over to join them on the court. He’d been hanging onto Liz’s every word up till now, but now that she was taking Brina to the nurse he didn’t mind joining in with the game.

Brina overheard Kid suggest a new tactic to him as Liz and Casper guided her back up towards the school. “So you looked like you were actually having fun out there,” Liz remarked. It was easy for anybody to tell that Brina wasn’t really one for sports.

“I think _I_ was more surprised by that than anyone else!” agreed Brina. “A lot of it was much easier than I thought it would be. Too bad I ended up knocking myself out of the game… Literally. As usual.”

The other girls laughed. “Well if it helps I think it was good entertainment value for everyone else,” Liz teased, seeing that Brina was obviously in quite good spirits despite her accident.

“No, it doesn’t!” protested Brina, though she was laughing too. “I guess everyone _can_ count on me to run into things.”

“Often head first too,” Casper added with a giggle.

They were all still laughing and joking when they got to the nurse’s office. After Brina had been checked over, the nurse said that she didn’t seem to have concussion but insisted on her staying in the infirmary at least until after she’d had some lunch. She said that if Brina didn’t have any problems keeping food down then she should be okay.

Until then she dismissed Liz and Casper and ordered Brina to lie down with a cold compress on her head, just to be on the safe side. Brina sighed to herself after the nurse had disappeared to find something light for her to eat. She shouldn’t really have been surprised… This was a typical occurrence for her after all. At least her head wasn’t spinning so much now. And she’d only experienced a touch of nausea.

She’d only been alone for a few minutes when somebody knocked on the door. She may have been feeling a little better, but the sound was definitely enough to grate on her headache. She wasn’t sure whether she should answer it or not… She _had_ been told to stay lying down. And whoever it was, she wasn’t going to be able to help to them. She certainly didn’t know anything about first aid.

Though maybe it was time she started learning… She definitely needed it a lot more often that most people.

Whoever had been at the door didn’t knock again. Brina felt a little guilty for ignoring them; like she should have at least called out that the nurse wasn’t there… Her curiosity soon got the better of her and she sat up and pulled the cold compress off, intending to go and see if there was anybody still around outside so she could explain that the nurse would be back soon.

“Lie back down. You were clearly told to do so for a reason.”

Brina jumped and dropped her cold compress onto the floor. She hadn’t even heard anybody come in! She looked round to find Kid standing behind the bed she’d been lying on. What was he doing here? Was the basketball game over already?

But instead she asked, “How do you know?”

“Liz told me.”

Of course… That was hardly rocket science. Brina felt a little silly. But hey, at least she had an excuse. She’d hit her head hard enough that the possibility of killing off a few brain cells wasn’t _that_ unlikely. “Oh.” She didn’t really know what else to say, so she made to pick the compress up off the floor. However, Kid beat her to it.

“You can’t use that now – it’s been on the floor,” he scolded her, depositing it in the sink at the side of the room. “It’ll be covered in germs.”

“Fine,” sighed Brina. She’d been intending to use the side that hadn’t touched the floor, but whatever. She already knew that Kid was obsessive compulsive – it only made sense that he was a germaphobe too.

“And I thought I told you to lie back down.”

“Okay, okay,” grumbled Brina, swinging her legs back up onto the bed and grudgingly lying down again. She didn’t know what it was about Kid, but he always brought out a certain stubbornness in her that she didn’t usually suffer from. She turned to the side slightly so that she wasn’t just looking at the ceiling. “So did you come here just to boss me around?”

“Actually I came to check if you were alright,” said Kid indignantly.

That definitely shut Brina up. She hadn’t been expecting _that_ … “Are you accepting responsibility for making me play basketball in the first place?” she asked hopefully.

“No, that was clearly your own fault that you ran into the post.”

Brina scowled. 

“ _But_ you did help us to win the game,” added Kid.

Brina brightened, in spite of herself. She’d never been involved in any kind of victory when it had come down to sports. “Our team won?” she repeated happily.

“Yes,” said Kid. “I thought I’d come down and congratulate you. The post incident aside, you actually played quite well.”

Brina couldn’t help but flush slightly at that. It was the first time he’d ever given her a real compliment. She turned back to look at the ceiling again so that she could avoid his gaze. “Erm, thanks…”

“And I’d prefer it that when we have to play again with the partner straps that you don’t drag me into the post along with you,” said Kid.

Brina bit back a smile. “I’ll try not to.”

“Good. In that case, providing you’re well enough, I think we should practice again tomorrow,” said Kid dutifully.

“Wait, what?” protested Brina, sitting up again in spite of what Kid had already told her. Okay, the game today had been fun… But she didn’t want to spend her _entire_ weekend playing basketball. Especially not if it ended up similarly to how it had done today.

“Practice makes perfect,” insisted Kid.

Brina pulled a face. That particular saying was one she’d always found to be flawed. “Yeah, but… they say that nobody’s perfect,” she pointed out infuriatingly. “So why practice?” She didn’t really believe that of course, but right now she couldn’t think of a better argument.

Kid just gave her a withering look like he was dealing with an unreasonable child. “Anything can be made perfect. You just have to be willing to try hard enough,” he said haughtily.

“Of course it can,” said Brina sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

Unfortunately Kid took advantage of her sarcasm. “I’m glad you agree. And that’s why I’ll see you back on the basketball court at eleven again tomorrow.”

“Hey, wait!” protested Brina. “I never…”

But he left before she could finish, and this time she _did_ hear the door open and close. She flounced back down onto the bed in a sulk, ignoring the complaining of her aching head. Damn reaper. He really did bring out a more obstinate side of her… But at least now maybe the twins would stop calling her a pushover.


	8. Two Of A Kind

By the end of the weekend, Brina felt like she had a complete knowledge of how basketball was played. Of course that didn’t really stop her from tripping over, running into things or hitting herself in the face when she got too eager to catch the ball… But Kid just insisted that it would all still help her in future games.

And after discovering that the game was easier to play than she’d expected, she’d actually started to enjoy herself. She still hadn’t scored a basket yet. But of course her balance affected her aim… So that clearly wasn’t going to be one of her strong points.

She hadn’t gotten Kid to show her how to tackle either. She figured that she was better off avoiding engaging directly head-on with other players at all costs. She could leave that part up to the rest of her team. Hopefully anyone else wouldn’t be likely to take down both themselves and other players in the process.

Obviously it was a little more difficult though when they had to play again in class on Monday morning. The partner straps just made _everything_ more difficult. Brina had gotten too used to having her own space during the game – since nobody ever bothered to mark her, knowing her reputation for being uncoordinated – and at one point she nearly took Kid’s eye out when trying to make a rather wild dive for the ball.

Kid had taken it in rather good grace though. He’d only scolded her for about a minute, which was an improvement on the reprimands she’d gotten from him in the past.

They also had the added rule that they weren’t allowed to pass the ball to their partner. With the partner straps allowing only a foot of distance between them it wouldn’t exactly be difficult to keep passing the ball back and forth… No, whoever caught the ball had to either keep it and try to shoot themselves or pass it to somebody else on their team.

“You’ve got ten minutes until the game is over,” Professor Stein announced. “Then we’ll break for lunch.”

Damn, only ten more minutes… The team that Brina and Kid were on were still losing two to three. Even if they caught up and brought the score to a tie it was unlikely that they’d then be able to proceed to take the lead. But the competitive energy was running high and everyone was still determined.

“Come on, guys! We can do this!” enthused Ox, as he and Kilik went speeding past in pursuit of the ball. They were on the current losing team too.

“Right!” agreed Circa and Kera, following them to try and make up their defence.

“Okay…” Maka sighed reluctantly. Her and Casper’s natural acclimatization with their new partnership wasn’t enough to cover their lack of interest in basketball.

“We’ll stay back,” Kid told Brina. They were much closer to the other team’s basket. “We need somebody down this end of the court.”

Brina was happy with that. This was generally her technique anyway. Marista and Ao hung back as well to try and mark them. That was another problem with the partner straps… Nobody ever bothered marking Brina, but they definitely made sure they kept Kid covered.

“Heads up!” shouted Kilik. He’d managed to bat the ball out of Danny’s hands, which he then passed over to Circa.

The other team converged in on them, so Circa passed the ball back to Kilik as he and Ox ran past to try and cover some distance between them and the basket. Danny and Cory ran after them, followed by Blood and Black Star. Ox and Kilik didn’t get far before the other team had barred their path.

“Maka! Casper! Look alive!” shouted Kilik, throwing the ball down court as hard as he could.

Casper may have had the same disinterest in basketball that Maka did, but it certainly didn’t affect her ability to catch. “Got it!” She caught the ball neatly, but Blood and Black Star moved on to block them before they’d even gotten anywhere. Circa and Kera weren’t far behind though, and the ball was passed furiously between pairs as they fought to keep it in their possession. 

When Casper caught the ball for the third time Black Star immediately lunged at her to try and tackle it out of her hands. She and Maka quickly skipped back in one synchronised movement so that she had room to throw. Everyone seemed to be surrounded by players, so Casper made a quick decision and pitched the ball towards Kid and Brina. At least they were closer to the basket. 

Kid and Brina were still being marked by the pair of scythe meisters, but they’d chosen to cover Kid’s side more than Brina’s. That gave Brina just enough space to catch the ball. She still couldn’t believe how easy it was to catch when she put her mind to it.

She was forced to feint left and right as Marista attempted to get the ball. Who could she pass to? Everyone was being marked to a tee right now. She wished that Kid had caught the ball instead and saved her this dilemma…

“Just shoot!” Kid had noticed her deliberation. They didn’t have time for that. “Nobody’s open so just do it!”

Oh, this was going to go well… Marista made one last bat for the ball and Brina desperately flung it high over her head, aiming for the basket. To her absolute amazement – and probably everyone else’s too – it hit the backboard and then sank through the hoop.

Brina stared at the basket as several of her teammates whooped happily. “It went in!” she exclaimed excitedly. “It actually went in!”

Kid couldn’t help but laugh at her reaction. “Nice one!” he congratulated her, slapping her a high five. “That was perfect!”

Brina felt her face colour. Two compliments in the space of a few days! And she was sure that _perfect_ was definitely high praise coming from Kid… Though she then mentally chastised herself. Why was she reading into it so much?

“Five minutes!” Professor Stein called from the sidelines as the ball was put back into play. He looked pleased with himself.

Both teams played valiantly but nobody else managed to score and the game ended in a tie. Still, everyone seemed satisfied with the result. They all chattered happily about it as they broke for lunch and headed back up to the academy.

“Well done, Brina!” Maka exclaimed as their large group trooped down towards the classroom where the weapons had been working from. Their partners were already starting to file out now too. “You actually scored!”

“I think I was more surprised about that than anyone!” laughed Brina. She felt elated. Besides fighting, she’d never done well in anything sporty before! She then spotted the twins’ heads above everyone else. “Jess! Adrian!” She ran after them shouting, “I scored a basket! I scored a basket!”

Several of the other meisters laughed. “I guess we’ll see you next period then!” Maka called after her.

**XXX**

When Brina got back to the classroom after lunch Professor Stein was ushering them all inside. The meisters who were already there were talking quietly amongst themselves. Brina went and grabbed a seat between Kid and Black Star.

“So we aren’t playing anymore basketball today?” she asked. She found that she was actually a little disappointed by that.

“Apparently not,” replied Kid.

“That blows,” Black Star complained loudly. “One game is so not enough for me to show off my super awesome basketball skills!”

Kid rolled his eyes. “Of course it isn’t,” he said dryly. Brina giggled.

Ao and Yvonna were the last few meisters to trickle in. Once they were seated, Professor Stein turned to address the whole class. “Now then, class… Since you’re all probably still feeling energetic from basketball this morning I figured I’d get you back into a little more fighting practice today.”

Oh great… Brina’s heart sank. Fighting without being able to rely on the twins as her balance was one thing she _hadn’t_ improved on in the slightest. Without Adrian and Jesse she was simply way out of her comfort zone.

“But first off I have a little exercise that I want to try with you before your practice. It’s called vibrations,” explained Professor Stein. “Everyone on your feet and to the front of the class. Make sure you and your partner have some space.”

Exchanging perplexed looks, the meisters all got up from their seats and filed down to the front. They spaced themselves out into a large semi-circle and watched Professor Stein curiously for further instruction.

“I want you all to stand facing your partner,” Professor Stein directed them. “Now let’s see… Ah Kim, let me borrow you to demonstrate.”

“Erm, okay…” said Kim, hesitantly moving across to stand next to their teacher. Everyone else turned to face their partner, still feeling confused.

“Hold out your hands like this,” Professor Stein told Kim, holding his hands out like he was ready to push her away. Kim did the same, so that her hands were only a few inches away from his. “That’s perfect… This is the kind of distance you need to start with… Thank you Kim, you may return to your partner now.”

Kim scurried back over to Yvonna and the other meisters all copied what they’d just been shown. Brina could hear a few of the boys muttering things like “ _This is stupid_ ” and “ _How is this supposed to help?_ ”

“Now I want you all to close your eyes…” Professor Stein instructed. “Concentrate completely on your partner. This is an exercise used to help match soul wavelengths. If it works you should be able to either feel or see the force of your partner’s wavelength. It works differently depending on how your mind works predominantly.”

They all closed their eyes. Brina couldn’t help but silently agree with the muttering that she’d heard. This was weird… Was it really going to help them? What exactly was she supposed to see… or feel?

She wondered if the others were all taking this seriously. She opened one eye cautiously. Kid, at least, had his eyes closed. He was standing perfectly still, like he was focusing all of his will into concentrating like Professor Stein had told them to. Well _he_ seemed to be taking the exercise seriously…

“No peeking, Brina,” said Professor Stein suddenly.

“Um, sorry!” squeaked Brina, quickly shutting her eyes tight again. She heard Kid sigh. She could practically hear him thinking “ _Trust you_ ”.

“Experience the sensations,” Professor Stein continued loudly for the benefit of the whole class. “Every person’s soul wavelength is different so you may not all get the same results.”

“Dude, this is so gay...” Blood grumbled. 

Brina was glad she wasn’t the only one who seemed to think that Professor Stein’s words sounded a little too intimate… She was also trying really hard not to think about the fact that her and Kid were the only boy-girl pairing in the class…

Professor Stein could clearly tell that not everyone was putting all of their efforts into the task he’d given them. “Concentrate _completely_ on your partner,” he repeated. “If you don’t then it won’t work and the exercise will be pointless.”

Brina pulled herself together. She’d been failing at most of the other exercises in this project so far… Surely this was one thing that she _could_ do. It wasn’t like she could do any damage to herself or anyone else just from standing in one place. Right, concentrate on Kid… She could do that. 

She forced herself to focus on that one thought, blocking everything else out, trying to imagine Kid standing in front of her. That wasn’t too difficult. She could practically see that perfectly symmetrical black outfit, those unusual and not-so-symmetrical white stripes in his raven hair, his strikingly golden eyes, the same semi-frown he always seemed to wear when he was around her. But then she had actually earned a smile from him today during basketball…

She could feel her hands heating up. Was that just her body’s own reaction from trying to concentrate so hard or was it really something to do with Kid’s soul wavelength?

“Can you feel that?” Brina whispered, not wanting to disturb whatever was happening. Her hands were so hot now that it was like she was standing next to an open flame. She was _sure_ that this wasn’t just her own body temperature acting up... Hands didn’t get that hot on their own.

“Yeah…” Kid replied in a low voice. He clearly didn’t want to interrupt their wavelengths either.

A few mutters and sounds of surprise from around the classroom suggested that some of the other pairs were experiencing similar reactions too. Professor Stein was the first to notice this. “If you think it’s working then try experimenting a bit with distances,” he suggested. “Try describing what you can feel to your partner too. Remember, everyone’s soul wavelength is unique.”

“Erm, it’s… hot,” said Brina, still trying to talk quietly. “Really hot… Like I’m practically touching fire…” The heat was spreading through her entire body now, but it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling. She wanted to compare it to snuggling up all toasty by the fire on a cold winter’s day… But it was much more intense than that.

She shut up abruptly. It was probably better if she didn’t say the rest. Kid was quiet too. For a long time… For so long that it was bordering on uncomfortable. Brina had just opened her mouth to awkwardly try and break the silence when he suddenly spoke. “It’s the opposite…”

“Huh?”

“Yours is the exact opposite,” Kid repeated. “It’s cool but… it has an uplifting feel to it. Like a summer breeze. It’s very peaceful and calming.”

Brina didn’t quite know how to respond to that. Her wavelength was calming? Soul wavelengths were meant to be a reflection of the individual’s personality. She’d never really thought of herself as calming before. But then surely the fire like she’d felt in Kid’s wavelength would suggest something like great anger or passion… Somehow she couldn’t really see either of those being attributed to Kid.

Thankfully Professor Stein was still on hand to interrupt. “You guys seem to have got it.” He sounded like he was standing right next to them now. “Why don’t you try experimenting with the distance like I suggested?”

“Erm, okay,” Brina agreed hesitantly.

“Just try a little at a time,” added Professor Stein, before moving on to direct Kim and Yvonna next.

Right… Brina very slowly inched her hands closer towards Kid’s. She really wanted to open her eyes now – standing there with them closed made her feel oddly self-conscious – but she still didn’t want to disrupt the exercise. It was definitely working… She could feel the heat increasing.

She eased her hands forward just a tiny bit more. She didn’t know if Kid was moving his hands too or if it was just her, but her fingers were starting to prickle with an energy so strong that she felt she’d be able to see it if she opened her eyes. Though somehow she knew that it existed through feel alone.

Kid _must_ have been moving his hands as well, because hers were now tingling so badly that she was sure they must be shaking from the force of it. Was this supposed to be their wavelengths trying to fight each other away? Or were they actually connecting?

The vibrations still running strongly through her hands, Brina moved them further still, barely a few millimetres more. They were so close to Kid’s hands now that they very lightly brushed together…

It felt like an electric shock. Something surged through her hands so suddenly and so strongly that Brina jerked back, her eyes flying open. Kid had the exact same reaction – she could see an identical look of surprise mirrored on his face too.

“Everything okay here?” Professor Stein was watching them again. He appeared rather amused, like he knew something that nobody else did.

Brina was still startled. What the hell was that? Had everyone else been experiencing the same thing? Looking around the classroom though it didn’t look like that was the case. Everyone else still had their eyes closed and their hands raised.

Kid beat her to answering. “No. Everything’s fine,” he said, casually brushing his hands on his pants.

Brina resisted the urge to look at her hands. The feeling had been so powerful that she was sure it must have left a mark… But she felt conspicuous in front of Professor Stein, so she awkwardly copied Kid’s movement instead. “Err, yeah. Just fine.”

“Of course it is,” said Professor Stein knowingly. He then turned to the pair behind him. “Marista, Ao, you seem to have achieved some results too… Why don’t you describe them to each other?”

“Right, okay,” said Marista, scrunching her eyes shut tighter in concentration. “It’s bright. Very bright… And colourful. It’s not bold colours though – it’s soft, like a pastel rainbow…”

“Yours is kinda wispy, if that makes sense…” replied Ao, only the slightest of frowns marring her pretty features. “It’s shadowy somehow… But there’s still a light to it that seems very strong…”

Brina tried to listen to what they were saying – part of her was intrigued to hear what other people’s soul wavelengths were like – but she just couldn’t seem to make herself concentrate. She was too distracted by the tingling feeling that was still lingering in her hands.

Luckily Professor Stein soon called the vibrations exercise to a close. Now that his class had had a little experimentation with soul wavelengths he still wanted them to have another go at something more practical. They hadn’t practiced fighting for a few weeks now.

But when they got down to it Brina wasn’t sure if she was grateful for the lesson change or not. Professor Stein had paired all of the meister teams off against each other to practice blocking and defending as a team. As usual, Brina wasn’t doing so well with it.

Her and Kid had been put up against Circa and Kera – one of the better teams that had came out of the new class project. So far Brina had managed to trip over her own feet, get her sleeve caught on Circa’s bangles and fall spectacularly over one of the benches, nearly taking Kera with her.

“I am so sorry!” she apologised frantically to Kera as she scrambled to her feet.

“Don’t worry about it,” replied Kera, simply brushing herself off.

God, it just seemed to get more and more embarrassing… Brina could not _wait_ until this project was over! She almost cried with happiness when the bell rang at the end of the day. She was the first to scurry out of the door as soon as Professor Stein dismissed them. But she didn’t get far before she was stopped.

“Brina, wait a second!”

Oh no, now what did he want… Hadn’t the fighting practice been embarrassing enough? Not to mention the uncomfortable silence that had followed between them after the vibrations exercise… Brina reluctantly stopped and turned around. “What is it?”

“You need to explain why you can’t seem to fight properly without causing yourself or somebody else an injury,” said Kid, almost demandingly.

Brina felt the colour rise in her cheeks. They were out of class now – did she still have to be harassed about it? “I told you before it’s not like I can help it!” she protested. She was jostled aside as students started to file out of the other classrooms along the corridor that they were on. This wasn’t really the ideal place to argue…

Kid seemed to notice too. He moved a little way down the corridor and pushed open a door to one of the empty classrooms. “In here.”

Brina didn’t see why she should have to do what he said, but an empty classroom would be better than discussing this in the busy corridor. If she’d thought she could have just said no and ran away without falling over then she would have done so… But of course the odds of that were slim.

She reluctantly followed Kid into the other classroom. “Look, I’m really sorry that I’m a bad partner,” she began as soon as the door had closed behind her. “But it’s not something I can help. I’ve always been clumsy – I just can’t fight properly when…”

“I didn’t say you were a bad partner,” Kid interrupted, cutting her off.

Brina frowned. “Sometimes you act like you think that.”

“I admit your lack of coordination can be… inconvenient,” said Kid, groping for an appropriate word. Was he actually trying _not_ to be mean about it? “But I don’t understand what’s changed. My father’s sung your praises before now and so has Professor Stein. And I saw you myself – you fought perfectly against Professor Stein before we started this project… I just want to understand what the problem is.”

Before the project? But that had been when she’d still been fighting with Adrian and Jesse. Didn’t Kid realise that? He said he didn’t understand what had changed… But the answer was so obvious. It was simply because they’d been separated from their weapons. _That_ was the problem.

“Well… We could still use our weapons then. And we can’t do that now,” said Brina lamely.

Kid looked confused. “I could understand someone not being able to fight as well without the use of their weapons… But that shouldn’t have a bearing on how accident prone you are.”

“Erm, actually that’s entirely the point… They’re the ones who keep me from being clumsy.” Brina realised then that maybe Kid would be the one person who could understand her problem more than anyone else. “You can only use two weapons too, right? Not one, it always has to be two… I’m exactly the same. My weapons are my balance. _They_ keep me balanced. Without them I can’t really do anything…”

“They’re your balance…” Kid repeated thoughtfully.

Brina could see exactly what he was thinking. They were a lot more alike than they’d thought… They both had to have their own sense of balance. They may have had very different reasons for it, but the notion was still the same. Maybe this was why Professor Stein had paired them together in the first place…

“I have an idea,” said Kid suddenly. “Follow me.”

“Err, where are we going?” asked Brina, feeling confused but following him out of the classroom regardless.

“Just follow me and I’ll show you.”

He led her out of the academy and all the way down to the small wooded area next to the basketball court. The place was completely empty now. Now that classes had finished everyone else had already gone home. Brina stood and watched as Kid searched for something amongst the bushes, still feeling thoroughly lost.

Kid eventually straightened up, holding a rather smooth stick that he’d found on the ground. He snapped it in two over his knee and then inspected the pieces. He looked annoyed. “Disgusting… That won’t do at all.”

He tossed the pieces aside and found another stick instead, doing the same again. He studied the two halves up close like he’d done before. “No, that’s not right either!”

He threw those to the ground too and started searching again. Oh dear... Was he having another one of his crazy moments? Brina had no idea what he was trying to do. She wondered if she’d be able to sneak away without him noticing…

Kid broke another stick in half and held the pieces up in front of his face, measuring them against each other. He suddenly seemed much happier. “Ah, now that’s perfect!” He held the two pieces out to Brina. “Try using these.”

Brina stared at him, not knowing what to say. _Now_ she knew exactly what he was doing. He was trying to find another alternative to make her feel more balanced since she couldn’t use the twins. She was actually a little touched that he’d thought of something like this for her.

She took the two sticks from him and grasped them tightly. It definitely wasn’t the same as her weapons, but it still felt good to have the same weight in either hand again. 

She knew she wouldn’t be able to take sticks to class with her since they weren’t supposed to be using weapons of any kind, but it was nice to know that it wasn’t _just_ Adrian and Jesse who could give her that sense of balance. And maybe she could try practicing with these and see if it actually helped improve her balance in the long run.

“Thanks,” she smiled. “That actually feels better already.”

“Good. Now I’m gonna come at you, so see if you can try and block better this time,” instructed Kid.

“Hang on, what?” 

She didn’t get to protest any further because Kid suddenly swung at her, forcing her into blocking awkwardly with her left arm. She didn’t realise they’d come out here to practice! She clutched the two sticks tighter in her hands. She had a feeling that she understood the whole point of the project now… Professor Stein was right – meisters couldn’t just rely on their weapons for everything. They had to be able to deal with things by themselves too.

Upon realising that, she felt the need to prove that she _could_ do this. She had some feeling of balance now, even if it wasn’t quite what she was used to. If she couldn’t show at least _some_ improvement now then she was beyond help… And she wouldn’t be fit to call herself a meister.

She blocked right, left, then right again as Kid alternated between striking with either hand. She could tell that he wasn’t really trying – he’d just wanted to provoke a reaction out of her. Well, it was working. And he knew it was too.

Brina switched to using the sticks to take the brunt of the blows like she would have done with her weapons, both conserving the strength in her arms and allowing herself more manoeuvrability. She felt herself slipping back into the old mindset of fighting that she was so used to. She was a meister of the DWMA. Fighting was in her comfort zone. She _could_ do this even without her weapons.

As she and Kid parried back and forth she found that she was enjoying herself more and more. Now this was more like it. It wasn’t awkward, it wasn’t uncoordinated… It was more like a dance. Movements so smooth and perfect that they had to be choreographed.

They’d been sparring for so long that it was starting to get dark. But Brina didn’t want to stop… She was having too much fun! When was the last time she’d been able to practice fighting like this before without her clumsy nature getting in the way?

They continued still and Brina started to grow bolder. She was now striking back almost as much as she was blocking and defending. She wanted to try more complex moves. She could actually be quite flexible when she put her mind to it… Kid could see that she was becoming more daring, so in retaliation his swipes grew faster and with more power packed behind them. He tried a quick left, right, left, right rally of hits so that Brina was forced to back up in order to avoid all of the blows. 

When he tried the same move again this time she performed a complete back flip to get out of the way. It was something she could only do when she was feeling perfectly confident – generally it went against the laws of her capability in coordination. She was feeling very confident right now though and it would have been a great move against a real enemy…

As it was though, it wasn’t so much of a fair move just practicing with Kid. She didn’t have quite as much space as she’d thought and she accidentally kicked her partner in the face as her legs swung round through the air.

She landed awkwardly, her move interrupted, and quickly scrambled to her feet. “Oh my god! Kid, I’m so sorry!”

Kid was clutching his eye where she’d kicked him. “Nice flip,” he grimaced.

“I’m so sorry,” Brina repeated guiltily. She tried to pull his hand away. “Here, let me see…” The skin around his eye was already red and a little swollen. She bit her lip. “It looks like you’re gonna have a black eye – I’m really sorry.”

“What?!” exclaimed Kid, looking horrified. “No, you have to fix it!”

Okay, Brina felt bad that she’d kicked him… But that didn’t mean that she was able to magically cure a black eye. “Um, I don’t think I can…”

“You have to! _Please_!” begged Kid, grabbing her hands. “I can’t have a black eye! It would be so asymmetrical that just the thought of it makes me want to throw up!”

Oh great, Brina had forgotten that she was dealing with a crazy person here… He really needed to see a shrink or something. But then she _was_ the one who’d caused him to freak out… He was right – she had to do _something_ to help.

“Okay, erm, let me think…” Maybe they could use makeup to cover it… She had a feeling that Kid wouldn’t be as opposed to the idea of wearing makeup as he was to the thought of being asymmetrical. “We could try concealer… Come on, I’ve got some back at my place.”

“Thank you, thank you…” Kid babbled, following Brina as she led the way back towards her apartment.

“No problem,” replied Brina, secretly thinking that it would have been better if she _had_ snuck away in the first place. 

She kept the two sticks with her. She knew that if _she_ tried breaking one in half she’d never get the pieces completely symmetrical… And she certainly didn’t need Kid to have another crazy attack any time soon.


	9. Conflict

“How am I supposed to use this stuff? Surely it’ll look really obvious.”

“Oh here then, let me do it!”

Brina would never have believed that Professor Stein’s class project would somehow result in her having to put makeup on a guy… Yet here she was. She made Kid sit on the end of her bed since her bedroom had the best light to work with – all the while consciously aware of the fact that Lord Death’s son was in her bedroom, no matter how much she tried _not_ to think about it.

And to make things worse, the concealer really _wasn’t_ working. The black eye that was rapidly spreading across one side of Kid’s face refused to be covered. Brina was going to run out of concealer before she successfully managed to cover it. Crap…

“Erm… This isn’t really working as well as I’d hoped…” she eventually forced herself to say, dreading Kid’s reaction. 

“What?!” exclaimed Kid, looking horrified. “But you _have_ to make it work!”

“I can’t!” Brina protested. “It’s not covering as well as I thought it would… I won’t have enough concealer for it. And you’d look ridiculous with the amount I’d have to put on anyway! I’m really sorry, but there isn’t much else I can do…”

Kid clutched his knees, his face hidden by his hair. “Fine, I guess there’s nothing else for it…” He said in a strained voice, as he inclined his face to one side. “You’re going to have to punch my other eye.”

Brina stared at him in disbelief. “You have _got_ to be kidding me.”

“I’m not kidding. If we can’t get rid of the mark that’s already there then this is the only way to make it symmetrical,” said Kid, remarkably calm considering what he was asking.

“No way! You’re insane!” Brina protested. “I’m not going to do it!”

“You have to!” Kid argued, starting to get annoyed. “You were the one who did this in the first place, so _you_ have to fix it.”

“Look, I said I was sorry, but I’m certainly not going to hit you _again_!”

“It’ll be fine. Just do it.”

“I’m not going to.”

“Brina…”

“I said I’m not going to do it!”

“Dammit, will you just hit me already?!”

“Gladly,” said a new voice, just as a fist connected with Kid’s face and sent him flying off the other side of the bed.

Brina squealed and ran to see if he was okay. “Kid, are you alright?” she asked frantically, helping to drag him back to his feet.

“I’m fine,” he said through gritted teeth, clutching his other eye. He seemed more annoyed than anything.

Brina turned and rounded on her intruders. “Adrian Carrow, what on earth do you think you’re doing?!”

“I could ask you the same thing,” said Adrian, rubbing his knuckles and looking somewhat satisfied with himself. Jesse was stood to one side behind him, not quite as comfortable with the situation. “What the hell is he doing in your room at this time of night?”

“I could ask _you_ the same thing,” Brina argued. “At least he was invited in! What gives you the right to just barge in without knocking first?”

“It _is_ my right if he’s being a sadistic little bastard and trying to engage you in some freaky foreplay,” Adrian accused.

“ _What_?!” Brina spluttered. She had no idea how to reply to that – she didn’t even know where the idea could possibly have come from!

“Not that it’s any of your concern,” Kid interrupted irritably. “But we’d simply been practicing for Professor Stein’s project.” He’d moved his hand now. His eye was brilliantly red, even more so than the one that Brina had injured.

“I wasn’t asking you!” Adrian snarled, moving towards him again.

“But he’s right!” said Brina angrily, causing him to stop in his tracks. “It _isn’t_ any of your concern! Now apologise!”

“There is no way in hell I’m apologising to the reaper,” Adrian refused. “Whether you _invited_ him to your bedroom or not.”

“Adrian…” Jesse warned. He could see that their usually level-headed meister was ready to lose it.

And he was right. Brina couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this angry. Adrian was _always_ doing this. He insisted on making their friendship so complicated and she never knew how to handle him. He’d treat her however he felt like. One minute he’d act like she was the best friend that he and Jesse had ever had, then the next he’d be ignoring her existence completely.

And he was always acting like he had the right to poke his nose in and tell her what to do. Well he didn’t. He knew he didn’t. Which was why he was resorting to such ridiculous accusations. And Kid hadn’t even done anything wrong! Well… Brina had had enough of it.

“I told you it is _none_ of your business!” she cried as she stormed over to Adrian and pushed him in the chest as hard as she could.

He was so much taller than her that he didn’t move an inch. But he certainly got the message. He gave her a bitter smile. “Well it’s nice to see you’re not being such a pushover for once.”

For once though, Brina didn’t find his attempt to be amusing funny at all. She was still too annoyed. “Just get out,” she said shortly. “Both of you.”

Jesse hadn’t really done anything wrong, but she knew that he would have known more than anyone that Adrian would have made a big fuss over Kid being there. Yet he still hadn’t done anything to stop him. Plus she couldn’t be bothered to distribute the blame fairly right now. She hated arguing – she just wanted to be left alone.

The smile vanished from Adrian’s face. “Fine. See if I care. Have fun with your reaper friend.” He banged the door open and strode out without looking back.

“We’ll see you around,” Jesse muttered to Brina, following Adrian’s lead.

Brina stood and stared after them, still shaking and with angry tears filling her eyes. She shook them away, feeling even more irritated. Why did her body always react that way? She couldn’t even get angry over something without her body betraying and embarrassing her.

She still couldn’t believe what had just happened. What the hell was Adrian’s problem? She really thought that he’d matured more than that since they’d met…

“I should get going too.”

Brina turned round, mildly startled. In the midst of everything she’d almost forgotten that Kid was there. The reminder made her feel all the more annoyed at the situation. She’d felt like she’d been making some real progress with Kid today, even despite the whole kick to the face… But Adrian had just gone and ruined that.

“I’m so sorry,” she apologised. “I didn’t think he’d… I mean, I never would have expected…”

“It’s fine,” Kid interrupted smoothly. “There’s no need for you to apologise. _You_ didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I’m still sorry,” Brina repeated lamely. Kid was right that it wasn’t her fault, but she still felt that she should have somehow been able to control Adrian better. He _was_ one of her weapons after all. She was responsible for both him and Jesse.

“Don’t be,” Kid reassured, unconcernedly. He seemed a lot more serene now that the twins had left. Knowing him, he was probably just happy that his face was symmetrical again… “But it _is_ late, so I should be going anyway. I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

He let himself out, leaving Brina feeling confused and irritated about the whole situation. She guessed that she hadn’t been spending that much time with the twins lately… But it wasn’t like she’d just been off gallivanting and having fun with other people – it had all been because of Professor Stein’s project. They could hardly hold it against her for wanting to do well in class…

Plus that still didn’t excuse Adrian taking it out on Kid. Kid really hadn’t done anything wrong. If Adrian had an issue with the way that Brina was spending her time then he needed to take that up with _her_ ; not anybody else.

Brina sighed as she walked through into the hallway and grabbed her set of keys from the bowl on the sideboard so that she could lock the front door. She didn’t want anybody else bursting in tonight. How had one class project managed to turn into something a lot more complicated?

**XXX**

Brina felt grumpy the following day. She hadn’t slept very well after everything that had happened. She was still mostly annoyed over how things had been looking up and now her hopes of actually doing well in Professor Stein’s project felt like they’d been dashed.

Kid may have acted cool about it last night, but she was worried that he’d be off with her now that one of her weapons had physically attacked him. Especially considering the apparent reasons he’d given for it. She’d be lucky if Kid even still wanted to be her partner after that!

Her mood wasn’t improved when she found Adrian waiting for her at the front of the school. Jesse was with him of course. Adrian never did anything on his own.

“What do you want?” Brina grumbled, as she attempted to pass by and ignore them. They still followed her anyway.

“I wanted to apologise if that’s alright with you,” Adrian said sarcastically, walking practically beside her.

“Well you’re not going the right way about it,” Brina pointed out, meaning his sarcastic tone. She couldn’t hold grudges and she found it difficult to stay angry with people. Adrian following her around wasn’t really making it any easier.

“Come on, Bree-Bree. I’m sorry, alright?” said Adrian more loudly. “You happy now?”

Brina stopped walking and sighed. Adrian almost walked straight past her. “If you think _that_ will make me happy then you really don’t know me at all.”

“Well what do you want then?” asked Adrian.

“I want you to apologise to Kid!” said Brina like it was obvious. “I really don’t give a damn about what you said to me – in case you haven’t realised, you do stuff like this all the time. But Kid didn’t do anything wrong, so go and apologise to him!”

Adrian did not look happy. “So that’s all you care about, is it?”

“ _Yes_ ,” replied Brina impatiently. Hadn’t she made that obvious already?

“Well I’m not gonna do it,” said Adrian huffily.

“Well leave me alone then!”

Whenever situations like this arose Jesse always just ghosted into the background. He’d long since given up on trying to play peacemaker between the two of them, but he still sometimes had to step in and try to bring Adrian back to reality. He was the only one who could ever do so, besides Brina herself.

“Come on Ade, I told you that’s what she’d say,” he interrupted. “You’re not gonna get anything else out of her.”

Brina gave him a small grateful smile. Well at least Jesse clearly knew her well enough.

“Whatever,” said Adrian childishly, turning on his heel. “Let’s just cut class, Jess.”

Jesse hung back long enough to say to Brina, “For what it’s worth, he really _is_ pleased to see you sticking up for yourself. He’s just not so happy about you sticking up to _him_.”

“That’s a fat load of help,” said Brina disbelievingly.

Jesse just laughed. “You know him as well as I do – he’ll come around sooner or later. You’re better off just ignoring him for now.”

He hurried off to catch up with his brother. Brina sighed. There was definitely no other individual as complicated as Adrian Carrow… She was just glad that his twin was on her side! At least she knew now that she was definitely in the right. She already found it hard enough to stand up to people – it was so much easier to just go with the flow.

She made her own way down to class. Kid wasn’t in the room when she got there. There were still a few other people missing, including Professor Stein himself, but she couldn’t help but worry that Kid was avoiding her. She grabbed a seat along the empty bench in front of Maka and Kera and put her head down on the desk. Part of her wished that she could have just cut class with the twins…

“Don’t tell me you’re sleeping in class now.”

Brina turned her head to the side. Kid had now taken up the seat next to her, the usual bored look on his face. And the class was louder than before – everybody else seemed to be here now. Oops… Maybe she really had dozed off for a few minutes!

She sat up quickly. “I wasn’t sleeping,” she said unconvincingly. It wasn’t really surprising though – she’d been tossing and turning all night after what had happened.

“Of course you weren’t,” replied Kid, obviously not believing her for a second.

After sitting up, Brina realised that she could hear mutters from around the class. A lot of the students seemed to be looking in their direction. Well of course… Kid _was_ sat there with two black eyes after all. Nobody would have exactly known that it was Brina’s fault, but she felt embarrassed nevertheless.

Kid either hadn’t noticed or he didn’t care. In fact, he was sat up in his chair and looking quite composed. The mutters and stares clearly didn’t bother him in the slightest. Brina watched him carefully. She’d always been quite perceptive of other people, but for some reason she could never seem to tell what Kid was thinking.

“You can stop staring at me,” said Kid. “Everybody else is already doing enough of that.”

“I wasn’t staring!” Brina protested, feeling her face colour. She then glanced back at the row behind them before lowering her voice. “So, um, how are your eyes?”

“I heal a lot faster than most people. The marks should be gone in no time,” replied Kid, not entirely answering her question.

Brina took his evasive answer to be a definite brush-off. She stared down at the desk in front of her. Yep, any progress they’d made had certainly been for nothing… And if anything she felt even guiltier now about the incident than she had to start with. She’d had all night to dwell on it more.

“I really am sorry,” she apologised quietly, her eyes still on the desk.

Kid sighed. “We’ve been over this already. I thought we established that it wasn’t your fault.”

“You established it. I just didn’t agree,” Brina countered, still not looking up.

Kid sighed and very lightly placed his fingers on top of Brina’s hand on the desk, forcing her to look at him. She jumped slightly at the contact. “You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself. You really don’t have to worry about it.”

Brina stared at him. He really did seem perfectly content, even with two very obvious black eyes that had to still be hurting. She guessed that he _had_ been encouraging her to punch him again last night. Did it matter to him that Adrian had been the one to do it instead?

“You’re actually happy… aren’t you?” Brina asked slowly. “You only care that your symmetry’s back.”

“I admit that as arrogant as your friend was, he did take care of the problem at hand,” said Kid simply. 

Wow… Brina had never met anyone quite so insane. She shook her head. “Well I guess if you’re happy about it then that’s all that matters…”

“Exactly,” agreed Kid. “Besides, I think you’re still concentrating on the wrong thing here.”

“What do you mean?” Brina asked, confused.

“I mean you’re worrying about the black eye that your friend gave me and not the one that you gave me yourself.”

Brina’s face grew hot again. “Hey, I already said I was sorry! What do you want me to do? You know I didn’t…” She stopped when she realised that Kid was actually smirking. “Wait, are you messing with me?”

“Well apparently it’s quite easy to do,” replied Kid, still bemused.

Brina scowled. “Jerk,” she muttered and punched him lightly in the arm, surprising them both.

“You’re hitting me _again_?”

“Oh come on, that wouldn’t have hurt…”

Despite her light tone, Brina was still surprised at herself. The only people she acted like this with were Adrian and Jesse. When had she suddenly gotten so comfortable around Kid? And when had he started feeling the same; enough to start teasing her?

Professor Stein suddenly came zooming into the room on his wheeley chair, effectively distracting Brina from her thoughts. “Good morning class!” He narrowly avoided crashing into his desk. “You’ll be pleased to know that we’ll be working on some more fighting practice today.”

Most of the class seemed pleased with that, but there were some grumbles from a few of the students. Probably those who had been paired off against Brina before. Brina sighed to herself. Kid may have helped to find her a temporary solution to her balance issues yesterday, but after how the practice had ended up she wasn’t exactly filled with confidence anymore.

“It’s clear that some of you have been practicing in your own time too,” said Professor Stein pointedly, nodding in Brina and Kid’s direction. “Nice job, Brina. I’m assuming that’s your handiwork.”

Several of her classmates started laughing. Brina felt her cheeks burning. “But… Wait… I didn’t…” she spluttered. “It wasn’t _my_ fault!”

“Technically one of them was,” Kid added, causing everyone to laugh harder. Brina’s face turned positively crimson.

“I wouldn’t worry about it, Brina,” said Professor Stein cheerfully. For some reason he seemed genuinely pleased about it. “Now… Let’s start with some two-on-two practice again…”

Brina groaned, feeling like putting her head back down on the desk. This was going to be a long day…


	10. A Wrench in the Works

Thankfully things started to improve again. After sulking for almost a week, Adrian realised that Brina wasn't going to budge so he gave Kid a rather gruff and insincere 'sorry' as they passed in the corridor on the way to class. It wasn't the best apology ever, but it was still undeniably what Brina had asked for.

After that, things pretty much went back to normal between them. Brina still felt a little guilty that Professor Stein's project had prevented her from spending much time with the twins, so she made sure to spend at least every lunchtime with them. It seemed to help. Jesse appeared happy enough with the arrangement and even Adrian didn't seem to be quite as surly as he usually was.

Brina was even doing better in class. She'd been practicing fighting using sticks every day after school and even on weekends. The first sticks had long since perished in one of their spars, but Kid had helped to fashion multiple replacements. Her balance was still abysmal, but the practice was doing its job to an extent. She felt she'd been improving significantly. And Kid didn't get annoyed with her anywhere near as much now.

Personally, Brina couldn't believe she'd gotten this far without being allowed to fight with Adrian and Jesse. And it was Kid she had to thank for it. She was amazed that he was still happy to help her practice when he knew how accident-prone she was, especially since the eye-blacking incident. Thankfully there'd only been a few bumps and scrapes since then - nothing serious enough to give him another embolism.

The frequent practice was actually helping two-fold as well. Brina felt that she and Kid were getting on much better now. She knew that her clumsiness could be annoying, especially in his eyes, and in turn she found it difficult to overlook his obsessive compulsive behaviour at times... So she was glad that they finally seemed to be getting past each other's flaws.

When he'd first started at the DWMA, Brina had been a little afraid of Lord Death's son and his then hostile attitude towards her. Yet now she found that she actually quite looked forward to their practices. Well she _had_... Until Kid had decided that footwork was one of Brina's biggest downfalls.

He'd taken it upon himself to try and help Brina improve on her footing whilst she was fighting. So far the balance exercises he'd improvised hadn't been very fun... Not to mention highly embarrassing.

"I've had an idea for something you can try," Kid announced, as they reached the basketball court after their classes had ended. It was now their usual practice area whenever it was free.

"I've started to dread hearing those words," said Brina worriedly.

Kid just scoffed at her. "How do you expect to improve if you don't even try?"

"Excuse me? I think all the bruises I have from falling on my butt are proof enough that I've _definitely_ been trying," Brina objected.

"And those bruises suggest that you need to try harder."

Brina scowled at Kid. She may have been getting on a lot better with him lately, but he was still as obnoxious as ever. And it really did bring out a more obstinate side of her that she didn't seem to get with anyone else.

"Now stand back," Kid directed, holding his hand out in front of him, palm facing down.

Brina did as he said and watched in awe as purple and black sparks erupted from his fingertips. She knew that being a grim reaper meant that Kid had some unique abilities that humans did not, but she'd never seen any of them first hand before. It was like some form of magic - it was really quite impressive to watch...

Something materialised on the ground. Satisfied, Kid lowered his hand and the sparks disappeared. Brina stared at the object on the ground in disbelief, sure that her eyes must be deceiving her. "Um, what is it?"

"It's a skateboard," said Kid obviously, looking at her like she was crazy. "What else would it be?"

Huh. Brina hadn't really expected Kid to be one for skateboarding. "Oh... It just all seemed a bit over the top for just a skateboard."

"It's not _just_ a skateboard," countered Kid. "It can also fly."

"Seriously?" Brina's eyes widened. She then felt a sudden sense of foreboding as realisation hit her. "Hey, wait a minute! You don't expect me to go _flying_ on that thing, do you?!"

"Of course not. I'm not stupid," said Kid patronisingly. "I just want you to try it on the ground."

"Err, I think I'll pass," Brina decided hastily.

"Skateboarding requires perfect balance," Kid declared, ignoring her.

"Which I don't have," Brina added.

"Which you _will_ have," Kid corrected. "Even if it takes a few falls first."

"I feel like I've already had enough falls to last me a lifetime," Brina grumbled.

"Just try it, will you?" said Kid impatiently. "I'm sure you can at least step on it without injuring yourself."

Brina raised her eyebrows at him. "You _have_ met me, haven't you? I think you're setting your sights a little high there..."

"Just get on already."

Still muttering to herself, Brina reluctantly stepped towards the skateboard. She very tentatively put one foot on the skateboard and went to step up with the other. As soon as she put her weight onto her first foot the board tipped and she half fell, half hopped instinctively off backwards. "Ah!" Thankfully Kid grabbed her arm to stop her from falling over. His reflexes had definitely been improved since he'd been partnered with Brina. "I told you I wouldn't be able to stand on it!"

"Well you _did_ step on the back," Kid pointed out. "Of course it was going to tip over. You need to stand in the middle."

"I thought I was!" Brina protested.

"Then you clearly judged it wrong."

After a fair bit of persuading and a few more failed attempts, Kid eventually managed to get Brina standing balanced on the skateboard. She still didn't feel as certain about it as he did though. "I really don't think I like this..."

"You're only a few inches off the floor," said Kid exasperatedly.

"Yeah, well in case you haven't noticed I fall over enough when I'm on solid ground," Brina pointed out. "Standing on something with wheels just feels like tempting fate to me..."

"Well you'd better get used to it because you're going to try moving on it next."

Brina stared at him. "You're kidding me, right?"

"It's really not that difficult," assured Kid. "Just put one foot on the ground and use it to push yourself forward."

"I can't," said Brina automatically.

Kid frowned. "Of course you can. You haven't even tried yet."

"No, I really don't think I can," Brina insisted.

Her feet felt like they were suddenly glued to the deck of the board. It had taken her long enough to get both of them on there... Now he wanted her to take one back off? There was no way. This was like kryptonite to her. She was positive that if she moved her foot she'd fall.

Kid sighed and stepped round so that he was standing in front of the skateboard. He held his hands out. "Here, give me your hands. You're not going to fall."

Now feeling even more nervous, Brina gingerly reached out her hands until they were touching Kid's. He wrapped slender, cool fingers around them. Brina wasn't entirely sure if it helped... If anything she probably felt worse.

"Ready?" asked Kid.

"Um. No..." Brina replied anxiously.

Kid rolled his eyes. "I told you, you're not going to fall. Now just take one foot off the board and try to keep your weight even over both of them..."

Brina tried to do as he said, but as she'd guessed it didn't work out the way Kid had expected. She transferred too much of her weight to the foot still on the board as she tried to put the other on the ground. The skateboard suddenly shot backwards and out from underneath her, sending her crashing forwards quite literally into Kid's arms.

Luckily, Kid reacted a lot quicker than she did. He managed to catch Brina and still stay on his feet. He sighed again. "Are you alright?"

"Um, yeah, I'm fine... Sorry," Brina babbled embarrassedly as Kid helped to steady her. She was _way_ too close to those piercing golden eyes for comfort. She felt the colour rise in her cheeks. "You said I wouldn't fall!"

"Well you didn't so much as fall as you did throw yourself at me," Kid pointed out.

"I did not!" Brina protested, blushing even harder. "It's not my fault the skateboard shot off backwards!"

"It technically is, since I told you to spread your weight more across both feet..."

Brina refused to get back on the skateboard after that, no matter how much Kid tried to persuade her. She'd known it wasn't going to be a good idea, but it still hadn't made the ordeal any less embarrassing. Especially the fact that Kid had had to catch her... Urgh.

"Fine," Kid eventually conceded. "We'll use it again when you're feeling more confident."

_That'll be never then_ , Brina thought to herself. "Why don't you just show me how it’s done instead?" she suggested. She was still intrigued as to why Kid even had a skateboard, since he hadn't struck her as much of a skater type. She was definitely interested to see what he could do.

Kid didn't need much convincing. "Alright." He put one foot on the board and used the other to propel himself along the basketball court, skating around Brina in large circles.

He made it look so easy... Brina had barely been able to stand on it! "Is that all?" she teased. "You're not gonna show me any tricks?"

Kid raised his eyebrows. "You want me to perform for you?"

"Hey, you're the one who looks like you're eager to do more," Brina pointed out. He did look right at home with it.

Kid actually chuckled at that. "Okay then. You may want to step back a bit."

Brina did as he said. Kid zoomed off round the basketball court again, picking up more and more speed. As he reached the basket closest to her he neatly ollied the skateboard over the base of the pole. He kicked the board as he jumped, so that it did a whole three-hundred and sixty degree flip in time for him to land back on the deck.

Brina watched, smiling, as he skated back down to the opposite end of the court - this time he jumped the board directly at the base of the other basket, using the impact to bounce back and spin the board one-hundred and eighty degrees before landing. She really couldn't judge his character like she could with everyone else... He was obviously way better at skateboarding than she'd expected. And he was also clearly in his element right now.

"Watch this!" he called.

Boosters appeared from the trucks of the skateboard and Kid suddenly took off into the sky. Brina stared up after him in amazement. It really _could_ fly! Did they make gadgets like that specifically for grim reapers or was that really just part of Kid's own reaper magic?

No longer hindered by the ground, Kid was able to perform a series of much more elaborate flips and sweeps in the air. Brina watched him in amusement. Putting aside the fact that he was skateboarding in the sky, it was currently impossible to tell that he was a grim reaper, an extraordinary meister or even an OCD freak. Right now he was simply a typical boy's boy who liked to show off doing tricks on his skateboard.

Kid landed the front end of the board on the basketball ring, grinding round it in a small circle. "Hey, watch it!" Brina shouted up to him, as the basket wobbled precariously. "Don't start going round destroying the court!" 

Kid heeded her warning. He gave the skateboard another kick, ollied off the basket and landed right in front of Brina with a bump. It made her jump, which seemed to amuse him. "So how was that?"

Brina smiled. "I think someone was showing off."

Kid smirked back. "And I think someone's just jealous."

Brina laughed. "Of course! I could barely stand on it; let alone do any of that!"

"Are you sure you don't want to try again?" Kid asked, stepping down from the skateboard and kicking it towards her.

"Positive," insisted Brina. "I think it's safer for the both of us that way."

Kid still wasn't finished with the idea yet, though he decided to let it go for now. They practiced sparring for a little while after instead, but by then the sun was starting to set. Kid agreed that they could try again after classes the next day. 

Brina couldn't help but worry what he'd have planned for her next. Though as long as it wasn't something that would involve her falling on him again then maybe she shouldn't complain...

**XXX**

The continued fighting preparation at least was worth it. Professor Stein organised all of the pairs against each other for practice during the morning classes. Brina and Kid were pitted against Black Star and Blood, which Brina felt was a little ambitious - they were both very competitive meisters.

But she managed to hold her own and she only fell over once. That was a definite improvement on before! Kid of course had no trouble, like usual, but at least she hadn't held him back this time. Brina knew she'd never be at the same standard as the young reaper - even _with_ the use of her weapon partners - but she hoped she wasn't quite as much of an embarrassment to him anymore.

Both Professor Stein _and_ Sid noticed that Brina had improved and they commended her for it. "Someone's been practicing," Professor Stein smiled, as he passed by their group. "Good job."

And not long after Sid added, "Nice moves, Brina. You're getting better."

Brina was positively glowing by the time they broke for lunch. That was the first time she'd been complimented since they'd started this project - not including when Professor Stein had commended her for giving Kid a black eye, because surely that didn't count - and she'd even been praised twice!

When they returned to their classroom for the afternoon sessions Sid wasn't there. That was usually a sign that they were going to be doing some lesser physical activities - Sid generally only stuck around to help out with the fighting practices. That must mean they had more trust exercises planned...

_Oh great_ , Brina thought to herself. Since she'd been getting better at the fighting practices she'd grown to look forward to those and then dread the trust exercises. Some of them were a little too cosy for her liking and occasionally more embarrassing than just falling over her feet.

She didn't actually know that this was going to be one of the worst ones yet.

"Now then... You've been teamed with your partners for the last three weeks now. Your fighting skills have been improving and I'm sure you've all been getting used to working alongside each other more," said Professor Stein. "So we're going to try a different trust exercise today. I need you all to come down to the front and stand facing your partner like we did with the vibrations exercise."

The class all filed down to the front of the room and did as he said. Brina wasn't so sure about doing another trust exercise so soon after her embarrassment with Kid the day before... But if it was going to be anything like the vibrations exercise then she couldn't help but be intrigued. She could still recall the feel of the intense electric shock she'd gotten from Kid's fingers...

She told herself that she could only remember it so clearly because the idea of sensing soul wavelengths in that way interested her. That was the only reason... Really.

"All of you must hold hands with your partner whilst still facing each other," Professor Stein directed. "Both hands."

“Ew, really?” said Black Star loudly. A few of the girls started giggling and some of the other boys grumbled under their breath. Professor Stein ignored all of them.

“This exercise is to demonstrate the importance of two things between individuals,” he continued. “Physical contact as well as eye contact. You are to look only at your partner’s eyes and nowhere else. You can blink as normal, but don’t allow your gaze to stray elsewhere.”

“Aw, _what_?!” The ones who had been griping about the idea were now even more outraged.

“Um, you want us to stare into each other’s eyes?” asked Cory, disbelievingly.

“No way, I’m not doing that!” protested Blood, shooting a look of disgust at Black Star.

“You can either do it or you can go and wait outside my classroom,” said Professor Stein calmly. “This exercise is as important as any other, so do as I say or you can forget being a part of this project.”

Blood huffed to himself, but he didn’t say anything else and neither did any of the other students. Brina had barely heard a word any of them had said anyway… _They had to hold hands and basically stare at each other?_ Great. Just great… She’d _known_ this was going to be embarrassing.

She knew that it would be worse for the teams of boys – Black Star and Blood were particularly unhappy about it – but once again she was very aware of the fact that she and Kid were the only boy-girl team in the class. She just had to remind herself that it was strictly for the project… No need to get so worked up about it, right?

“What are you daydreaming about? Everyone else has already started.”

Brina snapped back to attention and looked around. Whether they found it uncomfortable or not, everyone else was indeed already holding hands with their partners. Kid was waiting and watching Brina expectantly, holding both hands out ready.

“Oh! Err, sorry!” said Brina, grabbing his hands a little too quickly.

Kid just rolled his eyes. He’d gotten used to Brina being a little jumpy at times. But what he wasn’t used to was how unusually concentrated her silver eyes seemed… “There’s no need to look so intense – it’s just an exercise.”

Brina blushed. She hadn’t even realised. “Right! Sorry!”

“And you don’t have to keep apologising. I was just telling you.”

“Sorry… I mean okay.”

This could not be anymore uncomfortable. Brina could feel heat rising in her face. She was desperate to look down at the floor or even just somewhere else around the room. Anywhere but at Kid... Were her hands sweaty? Could Kid tell that she so obviously wanted to be doing anything but this?

Brina had never been much of a hand-holding person. She’d never really liked anyone enough to think about things like that. But now, standing here and holding hands with Kid, she realised that she actually quite liked it. The churning of her stomach wasn’t nausea – it was butterflies.

Oh, this was bad… It was just _Kid_. She’d spent the last three weeks working with him. So why was this having such an effect on her?

_Because he’s been growing on you this whole time_ , a niggling voice at the back of her mind pointed out. _You actually look forward to practicing with him now. You admire him. You think he’s smart. You think he’s funny. You even think he’s kinda cute…_

“Brina, what on earth are you doing now?”

Brina suddenly realised that she’d forgotten the exercise entirely and had been scrunching her eyes closed tight, trying to clear her head. She’d never understood the phrase ‘battling with yourself’ quite so literally before… She quickly opened her eyes to find Kid staring at her, looking puzzled. She’d never seen him with _that_ look on his face before. It really _was_ cute…

Brina felt even more colour rush into her cheeks. “Err, I, err… think I have something in my eye,” she improvised.

Kid frowned. “You do? Let me see…”

Still not letting go of her hands and breaking the exercise, Kid pulled her even closer so that he could inspect her eyes properly. Brina suddenly felt like she was about to have a heart attack. This was way, _way_ too close for comfort… She automatically averted her gaze towards the floor.

“Brina, you need to look up so I can see,” Kid prompted her impatiently.

Great. This clearly hadn’t been the best lie to go with. Brina reluctantly looked up, silver eyes meeting golden. Up close, she could see that Kid’s eyes were actually two different shades of gold. It really was quite something…

She suddenly felt more relaxed. It wasn’t like Kid could read her mind – he had no idea what she was thinking. He wasn’t _trying_ to make her feel uncomfortable. He was just trying to help her. Like he’d been doing for the last few weeks. He really wasn’t anything at all like Brina had originally expected…

“Okay guys, you don’t need to stand _that_ close to each other,” came Professor Stein’s amused voice.

Brina abruptly dropped Kid’s hands as she jerked back away from him. Kid did the same. Circa and Kera, who were next to them, couldn’t help but notice the sudden movement and started giggling. The brief moment of calmness gone, Brina could feel her face growing hot again.

“Brina said she had something in her eye,” Kid explained hastily. If Brina didn’t know any better she’d have said that Kid was embarrassed by the interruption too…

“Hmmm, you don’t say...” Professor Stein studied Brina’s face. “Do you want to go and check it in the bathroom?”

“Yes please,” Brina squeaked quickly, jumping on the opportunity to get away from the classroom.

“Alright then. Just try to hurry back. This exercise is more important than you probably think,” Professor Stein smiled knowingly.

Brina didn’t even bother trying to decrypt that – instead she concentrated on escaping from the classroom as fast as she could. She headed to the girls’ bathrooms like Professor Stein had suggested, just in case anyone saw where she went. And at least she’d be able to slap some water on her cheeks to try and cool off.

It turned out that wasn’t enough though and Brina ended up splashing the whole of her face and even her neck and shoulders with cold water. She stared at herself in the mirror. Her cheeks were _still_ pink, even though she’d been loitering in the bathrooms for the last ten minutes.

What was she playing at? This was just getting ridiculous now. Sure, some of the past trust exercises had been embarrassing too… But she’d never felt the need to literally run away from Kid before. The whole hand-holding thing had just thrown her off. Not to mention the cringing skateboard fandango from the day before.

She knew she had to get back to the classroom. Ten minutes was certainly more than enough to remove imaginary dust from her eye. It was still very reluctantly that she trudged back though after drying herself off.

“Everything okay?” Kid asked when she quietly slipped in through the door in an attempt to be inconspicuous. It clearly hadn’t worked. He was standing at the edge of the classroom, whilst the other teams were still continuing with the exercise.

“Err, yeah. It’s fine now,” Brina lied, as she joined him tentatively.

Kid suddenly frowned at her. “What have you been doing?” He reached out and caught a strand of her hair between his fingers. It was damp. “Your hair’s all wet.”

Brina felt her heart sputter. When had he gotten so comfortable around her? “Oh err, I was just washing the, um, dust out of my eye.”

“Ah Brina, welcome back.” Professor Stein sidled up alongside them. “How’s the eye?”

“It’s fine,” Brina repeated, whole-heartedly wishing she’d never started the whole thing. Her usual clumsiness already drew enough attention to herself as it was.

“Good,” said Professor Stein, satisfied. Brina suddenly felt like she’d given the wrong answer. “In that case you two can carry on with the exercise along with the rest of the class.”

Brilliant… Brina could hardly find another way out of it now though. She and Kid joined the rest of the class and resumed their positions from before. Brina may have wasted ten minutes with the fake ‘dust in eye’ story, but it clearly wasn’t enough. The exercise still seemed to drag on _forever_.

She tried really hard to occupy her mind with random things. Anything. Pizza toppings, cherry soda, penguins, biscuits, the new curtains she’d just put up very badly in her apartment… But no matter how obscure the topic it couldn’t completely distract her from drowning in gold.

To her relief, Kera eventually voiced the question that kept visiting Brina’s mind. “Professor? What exactly is this exercise supposed to do?” Several other people murmured their agreement showing that they’d been thinking the same thing.

“Good question, Kera,” said Professor Stein, clearly pleased that somebody had asked. “Now there are quite a few people here who can see the souls of others – myself included. And you’d be surprised at the physical results you can see from people's souls with an exercise like this.”

“So wouldn’t it be beneficial for those of us who can see souls to observe the results as well?” Maka piped up. She still didn’t break eye contact with Casper, even though her words suggested that she was very intrigued to do so.

“Maybe we can try that another time,” Professor Stein smiled to himself knowingly. “But for now I’m the only one who needs to see the effects of this exercise.”

Professor Stein’s answer only made the reason for the trust exercise sound even more mysterious, causing several of the students to start muttering to each other again. By the end of the lesson though everything suddenly became all too apparent.

“Now then,” Professor Stein announced after telling his class that they were finished and free to relax. “As I said at the start of the lesson, you’ve been practicing in these particular partnerships for the last three weeks… But now we’re going to make a few changes.”

“What do you mean?” asked Kilik.

“I mean that even though you didn’t know it, the last three weeks have been another trial,” explained Professor Stein. “Your teams were decided based on some initial decisions by myself and Sid. Now that we’ve seen how you work together we can use that to designate some of you even better partners.”

“What?!”

Half of the class started talking at once – some of them conversing between themselves and others trying to ask Professor Stein more questions. Brina felt like the bottom of her stomach had just dropped out. He was going to change some of the teams? But who? Most importantly... were her and Kid going to be split up?

“But when we started the project you said these teams were the ones we’d be staying in!” Ox pointed out.

“I lied,” said Professor Stein brightly. “I knew that if you thought these were the partners you’d indefinitely be working with then we’d see some of your best attempts to get along. This way we’ve been able to get an even better idea of which of you are well-suited to each other… and which of you don’t mesh quite so well.”

This time the classroom was silent. Everyone was shocked to find out that the whole project so far had just been another test. And even if Professor Stein did change the teams again, would that still be the final decision? Or would he do the same thing all over again until he was completely satisfied?

“Now don’t get me wrong,” Professor Stein continued. “I don’t expect many of my original decisions to be incorrect. Not all of your teams will be changing. This exercise has just provided me with the final results I needed to know what choices need to be made.”

“So which of us are switching already?” asked Black Star impatiently.

Professor Stein smiled. “Well it wouldn’t be very fun if I told you that now, would it? I’ll have a last discussion with Sid about the changes and we’ll announce them at the end of the week. Class dismissed.”

Still muttering to each other, the students started to file out of the classroom. Brina stayed frozen to the spot. She couldn’t believe it… Her and Kid had been getting along so much better lately. And her fighting had even been improving. But was there something else that might still count against them? Could this actually be their last week of working together?

She chanced a look at Kid. He hadn’t moved either. He was staring straight ahead – he looked just as surprised as Brina felt. Her stomach twisted painfully. She wanted to be _his_ partner still. She didn’t want anyone else. She wouldn’t be able to do as well with anyone other than Kid – she just knew it…

Who else would have thought to give her sticks to practice with as substitute weapons? Who else would shove her on a skateboard in an attempt to improve her balance and still catch her when she inevitably fell off? It was quite ironic really - when her and Kid had first been paired up she would have given anything to have been swapped to a different partner... Now she couldn't imagine anything worse. 

Brina bit her lip hesitantly. “So what do you think?” she asked Kid quietly.

Kid regained some of his composure. “I think we’ll be fine,” he said simply. “We shouldn’t have to worry.”

But he didn’t sound very sure. And Brina certainly wasn’t either. But they’d find out the result in a few days either way… Whether they liked the final decision or not.


	11. Mixing Things Up

The prospect of Professor Stein's final decisions weighed heavily on Brina's mind over the next few days. She was really worried about what the result would be for her. She didn't want anything to change. She wanted to stay working with Kid.

She kept reminding herself that the weight of her worry _wasn't_ affected by what had happened during the last trust exercise. But every time she told herself that she believed it less and less. Urgh. Like she wasn't already dreading the final decision enough...

_Wham_. A fist suddenly connected with the side of her face. The impact was enough to make her stumble sideways. She tripped over her own feet and ended up landing hard on her side, dropping the sticks that she'd been holding.

"Ow!" Brina protested. She wasn't sure what to give her attention to - the smarting of her cheek from the blow it had just taken or the throbbing pain in her ankle, which she seemed to have twisted as she'd tripped.

"Are you alright?" asked Kid, sounding half concerned and half exasperated as he crouched down beside her.

"Yeah," replied Brina, settling for rubbing her cheek and slowly rotating her ankle to try and ease the pain. It didn't seem to be anything serious. "I think I twisted my ankle a little, but it should be fine."

"Can you stand?"

"I think so."

Kid straightened up and helped her to her feet. Brina gingerly tested putting weight on her ankle. Like she'd thought, it didn't seem to be too bad. The pain had already reduced to a dull ache. She knew that the more she used it the quicker the pain would fade entirely.

Kid watched as she cautiously tested her ankle. "Maybe now you'll stop favouring it more than your left foot."

He'd already pointed out before that she seemed to favour one foot more than the other when fighting. Brina hadn't even realised that she'd been doing it. But of course the symmetry freak had noticed and he definitely didn't approve.

"Yeah, yeah," Brina grumbled, sarcastically adding, "I'm glad something good can come out of my pain."

"You didn't even try to dodge me," Kid pointed out reproachfully.

"Yeah, sorry," said Brina sheepishly, though she didn't really know why she was apologising. "I guess I wasn't really paying attention."

Kid frowned. "Will you stop thinking about what Professor Stein said?"

Brina cringed. Wow, was it that obvious what was on her mind? "Sorry," she said again. She couldn't help it - Professor Stein was going to be announcing the changes the day after tomorrow.

"You shouldn't be worried anyway," Kid added surely, leaning past her to pick up the sticks that she'd dropped. "You've made too much improvement for them to split us up now."

"Right," agreed Brina, though she didn't feel as certain as Kid sounded. She was still worried that there might be something they hadn't considered that could count against them.

"Besides," Kid continued, holding the sticks out to her with a slight smile. "Who else would do this with you?"

Brina smiled back as she took the sticks from his hands. "Good point."

It really _was_ a good point... Nobody else would have gone to quite the same extremes as Kid had to help her improve her balance. Was it really just in order for them to get a good grade on the project? Was it because of Kid's obsessive need for everything to be perfectly balanced that he'd taken it upon himself to assist Brina with hers? Or was it something else entirely?

"Why _do_ you try so hard to help me?" asked Brina suddenly, surprising even herself. She wasn't entirely sure if it was sudden boldness or if the question had just slipped out without her realising. "Is it just to try and get good grades in Professor Stein's class?"

Kid looked even more surprised by the question than Brina was, his golden eyes widening slightly. "Well... I guess at first I wanted to make up for being such a jerk..."

He looked so unusually awkward that Brina almost wanted to tell him just to forget she'd asked. But she couldn't... What did he mean, _at first_? Was he saying he'd had a different motive since they'd started practicing together outside of school?

She didn't get to find out though because a loud voice suddenly shouted, "What are you guys doing out here?"

They both jumped and turned to see Black Star sauntering over to them, followed by Tsubaki, Maka and Soul. They were leaving the school quite late themselves. "Clearly taking the project more seriously than you at any rate," said Kid pointedly.

"It's just a dumb project," said Black Star with a shrug. "Besides, who cares about that? Do you guys wanna play basketball with us after school tomorrow?"

"We should really be practicing every chance we get until Friday. And you should be doing the same," Kid pointed out.

"Why would I wanna do that?" Black Star raised his eyebrows. "I can't _wait_ for Professor Stein to change our partners! I hope I get someone new - why would I care about practicing?"

"Well some of us _do_ actually care," said Kid, causing Brina to flush slightly. Thankfully nobody else seemed to notice.

"How about you do it after classes on Friday then?" Maka suggested instead, clearly still not intending to play herself. She didn't seem particularly worried about Professor Stein's plans. But then she and Casper _had_ been one of the better teams on the project.

"Okay," said Brina, finding that she was actually quite eager to play again. It had been long enough since their last game for her to have gotten over her little incident of running headlong into the post. "I'm in!"

"Alright," agreed Kid. "Count me in too."

"Cool," said Soul. "We'll try and round some more people up to play. Shall we say about five?"

"Four," said Kid automatically.

Soul shrugged, unconcerned. "Alright. Four it is."

"Why four?" Brina asked Kid, a confused frown furrowing her brow.

"Because even numbers are better."

Brina rolled her eyes. Of course they were... Why had she even asked?

**XXX**

Brina was so nervous that she felt quite ill. It seemed to be the general consensus amongst the class. She'd never known the classroom to be as quiet as it was that afternoon, everyone waiting on Professor Stein to make his announcements at the end of the lesson. It had turned out that, for the most part at least, everyone had grown quite attached to their new partners.

"Now then," Professor Stein began, as they were nearing the end of the last period. "There's no sense in beating around the bush, so let's start discussing the changes... I'm sure it'll come as no surprise, but the first team that will no longer be working together are Black Star and Blood."

" _Yes_!"

"Thank _god_!"

And to everyone's amusement, the two boys actually high fived one another. Several of their classmates laughed. It seemed ironically fitting that the only time they'd be in union was at the prospect of not having to be a team anymore.

Professor Stein shook his head. "If only you could have shown such enthusiasm as a team before now... As from now, Blood, you will be working with Cory instead." Cory and Danny exchanged surprised glances at that. "Cory, as a flail meister I believe that you will fare better with a fellow melee weapon user. And Blood, I think that you shall find Cory much more level-headed than your former partner."

"Amen to that," Blood muttered gratefully. Black Star was too busy still fist-pumping the air in his delight to overhear.

"Danny, this means that your new partner will be Ao," Professor Stein continued, causing another wave of surprised murmurs. "She's pretty fiery for a scythe meister, so you'll have to step up your game to keep up." Ao couldn't help but laugh at that. "Ao, I hope that working with a projectile weapon user will in turn be a challenge for you too."

"I'm sure it will be," Ao smiled, whilst Danny simply looked embarrassed. Though still feeling very nervous, Brina watched them in mild interest. She'd noticed Danny hanging onto Liz's every word on more than one occasion before now. Maybe the guy had a thing for blondes...

"This means that Marista, you will now be teaming up with Black Star," Professor Stein directed. "I wanted to split up one of the scythe meister groups. As you know, Black Star is one of the highest-ranking meisters in this class. Whereas some may think I'm throwing you in the deep end, I simply think I'm giving you the chance to bring out your potential."

Marista nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Professor."

That was three pairs who had been swapped so far. Everyone at least seemed to be fairly happy with their new partners. However, Brina was starting to feel sick again. If she and Kid were the next team to be changed around then she didn't think she'd be feeling positive about it like everyone else.

She snuck a sideways glance at him. He was sat up straight with perfect posture, staring ahead with his full attention on Professor Stein. Damn him, why was _he_ always so composed? What she wouldn't have given to feel even half as confident as he looked...

"I don't want any of you to think that because I've changed your teams you were doing anything wrong," Professor Stein continued. "Although I admit that Black Star and Blood were an experiment that went badly," he then added, to several laughs in response. "The teams have been swapped because there is always room for improvement. New challenges unlock that extra potential, so don't waste it. Class dismissed."

Brina sat up to attention, hardly daring to believe her ears. Did that mean what she thought it did? Murmurs rose around the classroom again and she noticed several of her classmates exchanging shrugs and glances, clearly thinking the same thing.

Professor Stein was almost completely out of the door when he raised his voice, "Oh, and in case you didn't guess, the rest of you are staying in your original teams. I'll see you all next week."

Several students took that as their cue to escape for the weekend and started to file out of the room, but Brina slumped back in her seat and laughed in relief. That was it. She'd been worrying about this all week... But she and Kid were still staying together. She didn't have to worry now. Unless Professor Stein decided to drop anymore bombshells later on anyway. But for now, they were safe.

Kid chuckled at her reaction, getting to his feet. "You were really worried, weren't you?"

Brina grinned sheepishly as she followed suit. "What can I say? You're a good partner."

Kid looked quite mollified by that. "You know, even if we had been split up, I still would have tried to help you practice during free time if you'd felt that you needed it."

Brina looked round in surprise. "Are you serious?"

Kid shrugged like it was nothing. "You were clearly really worried about it. And like I said before, who else would put in so much time to train outside of class? I wouldn't want all of our hard work to go to waste."

Brina stared at him. She felt really touched. How did he always manage to surprise her so completely? "You're so sweet!" she exclaimed and, without thinking, threw her arms around him in a hug.

Kid tensed in embarrassment and very awkwardly patted her on the back. "Err, thanks... It's nothing really."

"Hey guys!"

Brina quickly released Kid as Black Star bounded down the steps to their row. Thankfully neither he nor anyone else seemed to have witnessed the impromptu hug. Though Brina noticed that Kid seemed to struggle a little more to regain his composure than she did.

"What?" he asked Black Star, almost defensively. It seemed that Brina had been the one to embarrass _him_ for once. She hid a smile. Personally she thought that was totally adorable.

"What's up with you?" Black Star raised his eyebrows, as Maka and Marista - who had been enlisted before class - joined them. "I was just gonna say since we're all here, why don't we go grab our partners and head straight to the basketball court?"

"Oh. That's fine," said Kid, more dignified now.

"Cool with me!" Brina agreed. She felt much happier with Professor Stein's announcements over and done with. Now she could look forward to their basketball game without any niggling worries at the back of her mind.

"Great!" Black Star enthused. He then called out to the mousy-haired boy who'd just passed them on the steps. "Hey Danny, are you playing basketball with us again or what?" When he'd taken up Brina's position at the last game after she'd had to go to the infirmary he'd turned out to be a surprisingly good offensive player.

"Oh, err, sure!" he said, sounding surprised but pleased.

"Awesome! Then let's go get our partners!"

The group of meisters left the classroom together and headed down to the next corridor to meet their weapon partners. The twins spotted Brina as they were leaving their classroom. "Hey Bree," Jesse greeted her in surprise. "We didn't know you were coming to meet us."

Brina hesitated awkwardly. "Um, actually we were just getting our other players. We're gonna go play basketball."

"Of course you are." Adrian rolled his eyes, looking thoroughly uninterested.

Brina bit her lip, feeling guilty. "Don't suppose you guys wanna come too?"

"No thanks," the twins replied in unison without having to think about it.

"We'll just catch you another time. Like usual," Jesse added with a half shrug, whilst Adrian merely grunted in response.

Brina watched them disappear down the corridor, still chewing her lip. Urgh. Why did she have to have the most antisocial partners in the whole school? Was it really that weird that she liked to try and socialise with everyone?

She supposed she should try and spend more time with the twins outside of lessons... She'd just been so caught up with the class project. Not to mention the fact that she'd spent all week worrying about Professor Stein's latest decisions. After that all she wanted was to just have some fun. It sucked that she couldn't even have a game of basketball without a guilty conscience.

She turned away to see that Kid was watching her. "What?" she asked defensively.

"I just thought most weapons would have more respect for their meister," said Kid coolly. 

Brina shrugged, trying to look nonchalant. "They're the Carrows. They tend to do whatever they want," she said offhandedly.

"Probably because you allow them to," Kid replied over his shoulder, turning to follow the rest of their group out of the classroom.

Brina felt herself flush. It wasn't _her_ fault that the twins were so antisocial. Nor could she help the way that they spoke to her sometimes. And she certainly didn't need anybody else trying to get her to stand up for herself more...

Kid stuck his head back round the door to see Brina still standing at the front of the classroom, silently glowering to herself - partly over the fact that Kid had a point, but mostly because she didn't need _him_ to tell her that. "Hey, are you coming to play basketball or what?"

That snapped Brina out of it, leaving her feeling silly instead. "Err, right, of course!"

She soon forgot about her little tiff once they'd gotten down to the basketball court and started their game. She found herself on a similar team to the last time, playing alongside Kid, Soul, Patty and Matt in what seemed to be a grudge match continuing from their last game. Black Star, Tsubaki, Danny, Marista and Ciarin made up the opposing team, whilst Maka and Liz watched on from the sidelines again.

"Brina, pass it to me!"

Brina no longer had the luxury of not being marked by anyone. From the last time people had started to pick up that she always tried to stay open and closer to the basket, since everyone tended to target the stronger players instead. Now, however, everyone had their own mark.

Brina was okay at catching and dribbling, but she didn't fancy her chances at going head on against another player to keep possession of the ball. Especially Ciarin, her marker, who was a lot taller than she was. So now she just made sure she passed the ball along as quickly as possible.

She did just that and hastily threw the ball to Patty, who zipped past, parrying the ball back and forth between her and Matt as they raced down the court. Whereas his brother seemed a little more than interested in Liz, Patty's bubbly temperament suited Matt much more. And they made a pretty good team on the basketball team.

Annoyingly though, Black Star was waiting to intercept. He tackled the ball out of Matt's hands and it was then swept back up towards the other basket. So far he and Tsubaki had already scored a basket apiece. The ball passed between Tsubaki and Marista and back to Black Star, then to Ciarin who sank it straight through the hoop above.

_Damn_ , thought Brina. Now they were in the lead again. The two teams had been tied for quite a while. Now they only had twenty minutes of play left. They had some serious catching up to do if they wanted to win this match too. Brina wasn't generally much of a competitive person, by any means. But she was definitely a team player.

"Hey, pass it to me!" She called to Soul, who was being plagued by both Marista and Ciarin, who had abandoned ship to help out.

It was the first time that Brina had ever specifically requested the ball to be thrown her way, but it seemed the most logical option seeing as she was the only one who, once again, wasn't being marked. Soul looked sceptical, as expected, but he did as Brina said and lobbed the ball towards her.

She caught it neatly and proceeded into dribbling it as far down the court as she could before Ciarin returned to take up his position. Brina hesitated. Matt was only just a way behind, but Ciarin was too tall and too fast for her to try and get the ball past him.

"Brina!" Kid shouted from behind her. He'd sprinted almost the length of the entire court, leaving Danny somewhere in his wake.

Brina hastily turned on her heel and passed the ball to Kid as hard as she could, who caught it and continued on towards the basket. Seeing Danny starting to catch up, Brina ran after him too, hoping she could try and play back-up. If they could just at least tie up the scores...

Danny made a wild bat for the ball as Kid neared the basket, who was forced to stop dribbling the ball and try to protect it instead. Seeing that Brina had managed to get even closer to the basket, he passed the ball back to her. "Heads up!"

Brina just managed to grab the ball with her fingertips as she leapt away from Ciarin's side at the last second. Danny was still blocking Kid as best as he could and Tsubaki was stopping Patty from getting any nearer to them. Urgh. Brina hated it when she was only left with this one choice...

Still, she bit the bullet and pitched the ball at the basket. It ricocheted off the edge of the ring. But Kid then feinted past Danny and quickly dove for the ball. He caught it and hurled it up at the basket in the same movement. It hit the backboard, bounced once off the hoop and then sailed smoothly through the middle.

Somewhere further down the court Patty, Matt and Soul all whooped in delight. Brina felt the urge to do the same, allowing herself a little bounce up and down on the spot. Kid grinned proudly. "Now that was teamwork!" he said, slapping her a high five.

"I think Professor Stein would be proud," Brina smiled back.

Matt ran to retrieve the ball and it was put straight back into play. Everything had happened in the last five minutes - they still had fifteen left to play. With the score tied again everyone was now even more determined to get another basket. As team captains, Kid and Black Star were playing particularly furiously.

Black Star came dangerously close to scoring again, but was blocked quite spectacularly by Patty. She passed the ball along to Matt, who launched it down the entire court in a surprising display of strength. Soul caught it and passed it back and forth between himself and Kid, trying to deter Danny and Marista.

"Kid, I'm open!" Brina called, just able to put enough space between her and Ciarin.

Danny just about managed to bat the ball with his fingertips as Kid threw it, knocking it off course. Brina was forced to dart to one side to try and catch it, however Ciarin had the same idea in mind. She tripped over his sneakers as they both made to move at the same time and ended up sprawled on the floor.

"Okay. Not so open anymore," she winced, feeling her ankle throbbing. Great. Now she'd gone and twisted that one as well. Both feet in the space of a few days wasn't very good, even for her.

"Err, sorry about that," Ciarin apologised, looking sheepish. "You alright?"

"Ciar, I've told you to watch those big feet of yours!" Marista exclaimed, as she and the rest of the players congregated over, the ball rolling away across the court by itself.

"It's fine," Brina insisted. "It was my fault; I just wasn't looking."

"Geez, Brina. You sure know how to put a game on hold," Black Star sighed.

Tsubaki elbowed him in the side. "Don't be so inconsiderate! Brina, do you need a hand up?"

"I'm okay. I just need a second..."

Brina tried testing her ankle against the ground again. Another wave of pain rolled through it, making her grit her teeth. That wasn't good. It was definitely worse than last time. She wasn't sure if she'd even be able to stand on it...

Everyone seemed to have realised that she wasn't getting up. Normally she was up on her feet again straightaway, trying to awkwardly brush off whatever mishap she'd just gotten herself into - whether it was from falling over or walking into something. But not this time. Instead she was sat in an awkward position, clutching her ankle and wishing for the whole ordeal to just be ignored.

Kid elbowed past Black Star as well and came to crouch down in front of her. "What did you do?" His voice took on that usual half exasperated tone.

"Think I've twisted my ankle," Brina mumbled. She sounded uncertain, but of course she knew what she'd done. She was just embarrassed about it.

"You should go to the infirmary," Tsubaki advised concernedly.

"Can you stand?" Kid asked, reminiscent of the other night, his gaze scrutinising her ankle for any obvious signs of damage.

Brina hesitated. "Err..."

"So that's a no," Kid finished for her knowingly. "Come on, let's get you to the infirmary..."

He helped pull Brina up into an awkwardly balanced standing position, with Tsubaki jumping in to assist as well. Brina automatically transferred all of her weight to her good foot. It wasn't like this sort of thing was new to her after all. Technically she should have been a pro at hopping by now.

"Do you want me to help you along?" Tsubaki offered sweetly.

"It's fine. I'll take her," Kid said briskly. Brina had to resist the urge to groan. Like this whole thing wasn't bad enough already.

"It's okay, Tsubaki," Black Star cut in. "Kid can take her on his own." He knew that without Kid the other team would have a distinct disadvantage.

"Then we'll be down two players!" Soul protested.

"Maka and Liz can stand in."

"Oh great..."

Brina wasn't even listening to them. She was all too aware of Kid's arm around her waist, whether it was as support or not. "Put your arm around my neck," he told her.

Brina felt heat rush into her cheeks. It was always humiliating enough having to hobble along like an invalid, but why did Kid have to be the one to take her? "I'll be fine really..."

Kid sighed. "Will you please just let me help you?"

"Fine..." Brina agreed reluctantly, tentatively putting her arm around his neck. What she didn't expect was for him to then sweep her legs out from underneath her and lift her up into his arms. She let out an embarrassing squeak. "What are you doing?!"

"It'll be much faster this way," said Kid indifferently. "You may not have noticed, but you really don't hobble very quickly."

Brina could hear several people giggling, making her cheeks flood even darker. "Jerk," she muttered. God, what she would have given to just evaporate on the spot...

The voices of the other students died away as Kid carried her back towards the school, though it didn't make her feel any less embarrassed. She allowed herself a few sneaky sideways glances at Kid's face, trying to gage his expression, until he noticed her looking and she quickly went back to staring straight ahead.

She was actually quite surprised. He didn't seem to be showing any signs of exertion from carrying her. She knew that she was only short, but Kid wasn't exactly tall either. Not to mention he only had a very slim build. She wondered if it was to do with him being a grim reaper...

Once they were inside the school her curiosity became too much and she had to ask. "Does being a grim reaper make you strong?"

"A little. Not much more than most my age," Kid replied. "I'm sure that Black Star's physically a lot stronger than I am."

"Huh." Maybe Brina was just lighter than she'd expected.

The nurse looked surprised to see Kid carry Brina up to the infirmary and hurriedly ushered them inside. Brina had never been so happy to see the sick bay before. Besides her grim reaper question, they hadn't spoken two words to each other on the way over. It had been very awkward.

Kid helped her onto one of the beds, where she could have sighed with relief. "You really didn't have to go to so much trouble, y'know," she told him.

"You do know that friends _are_ allowed to help each other, right?" he pointed out in return. "Besides... I feel it was my fault for weakening your ankle during our practice the other night."

Brina opened her mouth, then closed it again. She had a feeling that telling him now that it was actually the other ankle she'd injured earlier in the week would only make it more awkward for both of them. Plus he'd even said that they were friends. It was nice to actually hear it from him.

"Now let's have a look at you..." The nurse bustled over with an ice pack before Brina could say anything else.

"You should get back to the game," Brina advised Kid instead, whilst the nurse busied herself with easing Brina's boot off. "See if you can score a miracle basket in the last few minutes."

"I think the emphasis is on the word miracle there," Kid smiled wryly. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay with you?"

"I'll be fine," Brina assured him, though she felt quite touched by the gesture. "It isn't like this is new territory for me!"

Kid chuckled. "Alright. Then I hope your ankle gets better soon."

"Thanks." Brina smiled at him sincerely. "And thanks for helping me over here." As embarrassing as it may have been, she knew that he'd only wanted to help her. And she certainly appreciated that.

She wasn't entirely sure if she'd imagined it, but she could have sworn she'd seen the slightest blush tinge Kid's face. "It's no trouble," he said, somewhat uncomfortably. "I'll see you on Monday then."

"See you."

Brina watched as Kid left, then turned her attention to the nurse, who was now pressing the ice pack to her noticeably swollen ankle. "It's a little swollen, but I don't think it's a bad sprain," the nurse told her. "It should be okay after a few days. Make sure to keep using it as much as you can, but at the same time don't overdo it. I can give you a crutch to use as support for getting back home."

"Okay, thanks." Again, these were all procedures that Brina was very used to.

"You have the weekend now to recover," the nurse pointed out. "So hopefully it shouldn't affect any of your physical activities in school too much."

"It should be alright," said Brina lightly. "Apparently I favour my other foot more anyway, so I guess I..."

She trailed off as she realised something. Kid had definitely seen which ankle she'd injured - he'd been examining it when she'd been sitting out on the basketball court. So he would have _known_ that it wasn't the foot he reckoned she always favoured and therefore that it _wasn't_ the ankle she'd sprained during practice.

Most people might not have noticed something like that. But this was Kid. Kid noticed everything. He was the one who'd noticed that she favoured one foot over the other in the first place. So why had he made such a fuss over helping her? Why had he lied and said that it was his fault for weakening her ankle? He _had_ to have known... 

Had it just been an excuse?

"Is everything alright?" the nurse questioned, seeing her gazing over towards the door again.

Brina felt a smile creep across her face. "Yeah, it's fine. In fact, I suddenly feel a whole lot better..."


End file.
